OUR  FOREIGNERS 


SAMUEL  P.  ORTH 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  EDITION 

VOLUME  35 

THE  CHRONICLES 

OF  AMERICA  SERIES 

ALLEN  JOHNSON 

EDITOR 

GERHARD  R.  LOMER 

CHARLES  W.  JEFFERYS 

ASSISTANT  EDITORS 


~a  NY 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 

A  CHRONICLE  OF 

AMERICANS  IN  THE  MAKING 

BY  SAMUEL  P.  ORTH 


NEW  HAVEN:  YALE   UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

TORONTO:    GLASGOW.  BROOK  &  CO. 

LONDON:    HUMPHREY    MILFORD 

OXFORD    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 

1920 


Copyright,  1920,  by  Yale  University  Press 


College 
Library 


79^0 
CONTENTS 

I.     OPENING  THE  DOOR  Page      1 

II.     THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  "  21 

III.  THE  NEGRO  "  45 

IV.  UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  "  66 
V.     THE  IRISH  INVASION  "  103 

VI.     THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  "  144 

VII.     THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND  "  147 

VIII.    THE  CITY  BUILDERS  "  162 

IX.     THE  ORIENTAL  "  188 

X.     RACIAL  INFILTRATION  "  208 

XI.     THE  GUARDED  DOOR  "  221 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  "  235 

INDEX  "  241 


vii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

THE  OLD  AND  THE  NEW 

NATIVE     AMERICAN     STEEL-MILL 

WORKERS 
SLOVAKS 

Photographs  by  Lewis  W.  Hine.  Frontispiece 

A  STUDY  IN  TYPES 

ENGLISH 

ITALIAN 

AMERICAN 

SLOVAK 

POLE 

Photographs  by  Lewis  W.  Hine.  Facing  page    30 

JUVENILE  TYPES 

ENGLISH  FAMILY  AT  ELLIS  ISLAND 
Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 

GREEK  CHILD 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine  for  Special 
Survey  Mission,  American  Red  Cross,  and 
for  Pittsburgh  Survey. 

MAGYAR  BOY 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine.  "         "       70 


x  ILLUSTRATIONS 

CENTRAL  EUROPEAN  TYPES 

A  GERMAN  FAMILY  AT  ELLIS  ISLAND 

LITHUANIAN 

BOHEMIAN 

GERMAN-HUNGARIAN 

Photographs  by  Lewis  W.  Hine.  Facing  page    128 

A  RACIAL  CONTRAST 

SLOVAK  GIRLS 

A  GIRL  FROM  SOUTHERN  ITALY 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine.  "         "      160 

FROM  THE  LEVANT  AND  THE  NORTH 

RUSSIAN  TYPES 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 

A  HEBREW  PATRIARCH 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine  for  Special 
Survey  Mission,  American  Red  Cross,  and 
for  Pitltburgh  Survey. 

ARMENIAN  REFUGEES 

Photograph  copyright  by  Underwood  and 

Underwood,  New  York.  "      16+ 

THE  SERB  AT  HOME 

A  STREET  IN  BELGRADE 

A  SERB  FIGHTING  MAN 

A  SERB  REFUGEE 

Photographs  by  Lewis  W.  Hine  for  Special 
Survey  Mission,  American  Red  Cross,  and 
for  Pitttburgh  Survey.  "  "  170 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xi 

ITALIAN  TYPES 

WOMEN  OP  NORTHERN  ITALY 

A  LEGIONARY  OF  TODAY 

Photographs  by  Lewis  W.  Hine  for  Special 
Survey  Mission,  American  Red  Cross,  and 
for  Pittsburgh  Survey.  Facing  page  180 

IMMIGRANT  MOTHERS  AND  CHILDREN 

HUNGARIAN 

Photograph  copyright  by  Underwood  and 
Underwood,  New  York. 

RUSSIAN  POLE 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 
ITALIAN 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine.  "         "      £16 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 


CHAPTER  I 

v 

OPENING    THE    DOOR 

LONG  before  men  awoke  to  the  vision  of  America, 
the  Old  World  was  the  scene  of  many  stupendous 
migrations.  One  after  another,  the  Goths,  the 
Huns,  the  Saracens,  the  Turks,  and  the  Tatars,  by 
the  sheer  tidal  force  of  their  numbers  threatened  to 
engulf  the  ancient  and  medieval  civilization  of 
Europe.  But  neither  in  the  motives  prompting 
them  nor  in  the  effect  they  produced,  nor  yet  in  the 
magnitude  of  their  numbers,  will  such  migrations 
bear  comparison  with  the  great  exodus  of  European 
peoples  which  in  the  course  of  three  centuries  has 
made  the  United  States  of  America.  That  move- 
ment of  races  —  first  across  the  sea  and  then  across 
the  land  to  yet  another  sea,  which  set  in  with  the 
English  occupation  of  Virginia  in  1607  and  which 


2  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

has  continued  from  that  day  to  this  an  almost  cease- 
less stream  of  millions  of  human  beings  seeking  in 
the  New  World  what  was  denied  them  in  the  Old  — 
has  no  parallel  in  history. 

It  was  not  until  the  seventeenth  century  that  the 
door  of  the  wilderness  of  North  America  was  opened 
by  Englishmen;  but,  if  we  are  interested  in  the  cir- 
cumstances and  ideas  which  turned  Englishmen 
thither,  we  must  look  back  into  the  wonderful  six- 
teenth century  —  and  even  into  the  fifteenth,  for 
it  was  only  five  or  six  years  after  the  great  Chris- 
topher's discovery,  that  the  Cabots,  John  and  Se- 
bastian, raised  the  Cross  of  St.  George  on  the  North 
American  coast.  Two  generations  later,  when  the 
New  World  was  pouring  its  treasure  into  the  lap  of 
Spain  and  when  all  England  was  pulsating  with 
the  new  and  noble  life  of  the  Elizabethan  Age,  the 
sea  captains  of  the  Great  Queen  challenged  the 
Spanish  monarch,  defeated  his  Great  Armada,  and 
unfurled  the  English  flag,  symbol  of  a  changing  era, 
in  every  sea. 

The  political  and  economic  thought  of  the  six- 
teenth century  was  conducive  to  imperial  expan- 
sion. The  feudal  fragments  of  kingdoms  were  be- 
ing fused  into  a  true  nationalism.  It  was  the  day 
of  the  mercantilists,  when  gold  and  silver  were 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  3 

given  a  grotesquely  exaggerated  place  in  the  na- 
tional economy  and  self-sufficiency  was  deemed  to 
be  the  goal  of  every  great  nation.  Freed  from  the 
restraint  of  rivals,  the  nation  sought  to  produce  its 
own  raw  material,  control  its  own  trade,  and  carry 
its  own  goods  in  its  own  ships  to  its  own  markets. 
This  economic  doctrine  appealed  with  peculiar 
force  to  the  people  of  England.  England  was  very 
far  from  being  self-sustaining.  She  was  obliged  to 
import  salt,  sugar,  dried  fruits,  wines,  silks,  cotton, 
potash,  naval  stores,  and  many  other  necessary 
commodities.  Even  of  the  fish  which  formed  a 
staple  food  on  the  English  workman's  table,  two- 
thirds  of  the  supply  was  purchased  from  the  Dutch. 
Moreover,  wherever  English  traders  sought  to  take 
the  products  of  English  industry,  mostly  woolen 
goods,  they  were  met  by  handicaps  —  tariffs,  Sound 
dues,  monopolies,  exclusions,  retaliations,  and  even 
persecutions. 

So  England  was  eager  to  expand  under  her  own 
flag.  With  the  fresh  courage  and  buoyancy  of 
youth  she  fitted  out  ships  and  sent  forth  expedi- 
tions. And  while  she  shared  with  the  rest  of  the 
Europeans  the  vision  of  India  and  the  Orient,  her 
"gentlemen  adventurers"  were  not  long  in  seeing 
the  possibilities  that  lay  concealed  beyond  the 


4  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

inviting  harbors,  the  navigable  rivers,  and  the  for- 
est-covered valleys  of  North  America.  With  a  will- 
ing heart  they  believed  their  quaint  chronicler,  Rich- 
ard Hakluyt,  when  he  declared  that  America  could 
bring  "as  great  a  profit  to  the  Realme  of  England  as 
the  Indes  to  the  King  of  Spain,"  that  "golde,  silver, 
copper,  leade  and  per  ales  in  aboundaunce"  had  been 
found  there:  also  "precious  stones,  as  turquoises  and 
emauraldes;  spices  and  drugges;  silke  worms  fairer 
than  ours  in  Europe;  white  and  red  cotton;  infinite 
multitude  of  all  kind  offowles;  excellent  vines  in  many 
places  for  wines;  the  soyle  apte  to  beare  olyvesfor  oyle; 
all  kinds  offruites;  all  kindes  of  odoriferous  trees  and 
date  trees,  cypresses,  and  cedars;  and  in  New-founde- 
lande  aboundaunce  of  pines  andfirr  trees  to  make 
mastes  and  deals  boards,  pitch,  tar,  rosen;  hempefor 
cables  and  cordage;  and  upp  within  the  Graunde  Baye 
excedinge  quantitie  of  all  kinde  of  precious  furres. " 
Such  a  catalogue  of  resources  led  him  to  conclude 
that  "all  the  commodities  of  our  olde  decayed  and 
daungerous  trades  in  all  Europe,  Africa  and  Asia 
haunted  by  us,  may  in  short  space  and  for  little  or 
nothinge,  in  a  manner  be  had  in  that  part  of  America 
which  lieth  between  30  and  60  degrees  of  northerly 
latitude." 
Even  after  repeated  expeditions  had  discounted 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  5 

the  exuberant  optimism  of  this  description,  the 
Englishmen's  faith  did  not  wane.  While  for  many 
years  there  lurked  in  the  mind  of  the  Londoner,  the 
hope  that  some  of  the  products  of  the  Levant  might 
be  raised  in  the  fertile  valleys  of  Virginia,  the  prac- 
tical English  temperament  none  the  less  began 
promptly  to  appease  itself  with  the  products  of  the 
vast  forests,  the  masts,  the  tar  and  pitch,  the  furs; 
with  the  fish  from  the  coast  waters,  the  abundant 
cod,  herring,  and  mackerel;  nor  was  it  many  years 
before  tobacco,  indigo,  sugar,  cotton,  maize,  and 
other  commodities  brought  to  the  merchants  of 
England  a  great  American  commerce. 

The  first  attempts  to  found  colonies  in  the  coun- 
try by  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  and  Sir  Walter  Ra- 
leigh were  pitiable  failures.  But  the  settlement 
on  the  James  in  1607  marked  the  beginning  of  a 
nation.  What  sort  of  nation?  What  race  of  peo- 
ple? Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  with  true  English  ten- 
acity, had  said  after  learning  of  the  collapse  of  his 
own  colony,  "I  shall  yet  live  to  see  it  an  English 
nation."  The  new  nation  certainly  was  English  in  its 
foundation,  whatever  may  be  said  of  its  superstruc- 
ture. Virginia,  New  England,  Maryland,  the  Caro- 
linas,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  Georgia  were 
begun  by  Englishmen;  and  New  England,  Virginia, 


6  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

and  Maryland  remained  almost  entirely  English 
throughout  the  seventeenth  century  and  well  into 
the  eighteenth.    These  colonies  reproduced,  in  so 
far  as  their  strange  and  wild  surroundings  permitted, 
the  towns,  the  estates,  and  the  homes  of  English- 
men of  that  day.    They  were  organized  and  gov- 
erned by  Englishmen  under  English  customs  and 
laws;  and  the  Englishman's  constitutional  liberties 
were  their  boast  until  the  colonists  wrote  these 
rights  and  privileges  into  a  constitution  of  their 
own.     "Foreigners"  began  early  to  straggle  into 
the  colonies.    But  not  until  the  eighteenth  century 
was  well  under  way  did  they  come  in  appreciable 
numbers,  and  even  then  the  great  bulk  of  these  non- 
English  newcomers  were  from  the  British  Isles  — 
of  Welsh,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  Scotch-Irish  extraction. 
These  colonies  took  root  at  a  time  when  profound 
social  and  religious  changes  were  occurring  in  Eng- 
land.    Churchmen  and  dissenters  were  at  war  with 
each  other;  autocracy  was  struggling  to  survive  the 
representative  system;  and  agrarianism  was  con- 
tending with  a  newly  created  capitalism  for  eco- 
nomic supremacy.     The  old  order  was  changing. 
In  vain  were  attempts  made  to  stay  progress  by 
labor  laws  and  poor  laws  and  corn  laws.    The  laws 
rather  served  to  fill  the  highways  with  vagrants, 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  7 

vagabonds,  mendicants,  beggars,  and  worse.  There 
was  a  general  belief  that  the  country  was  over- 
populated.  For  the  restive,  the  discontented,  the 
ambitious,  as  well  as  for  the  undesirable  surplus, 
the  new  colonies  across  the  Atlantic  provided  a 
welcome  outlet. 

To  the  southern  plantations  were  lured  those  to 
whom  land-owning  offered  not  only  a  means  of 
livelihood  but  social  distinction.  As  word  was 
brought  back  of  the  prosperity  of  the  great  estates 
and  of  the  limitless  areas  awaiting  cultivation,  it 
tempted  hi  substantial  numbers  those  who  were  dis- 
satisfied with  their  lot:  the  yeoman  who  saw  no  es- 
cape from  the  limitations  of  his  class,  either  for 
himself  or  for  his  children;  the  younger  son  who  dis- 
dained trade  but  was  too  poor  to  keep  up  family 
pretensions;  professional  men,  lawyers,  and  doctors, 
even  clergymen,  who  were  ambitious  to  become 
landed  gentlemen;  all  these  felt  the  irresistible  call 
of  the  New  World. 

The  northern  colonies  were,  on  the  other  hand, 
settled  by  townfolk,  by  that  sturdy  middle  class 
which  had  wedged  its  way  socially  between  the 
aristocracy  and  the  peasantry,  which  asserted  it- 
self politically  hi  the  Cromwellian  Commonwealth 
and  later  became  the  industrial  master  of  trade 


8  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

and  manufacture.  These  hard-headed  dissenters 
founded  New  England.  They  built  towns  and  al- 
most immediately  developed  a  profitable  trade  and 
manufacture.  With  a  goodly  sprinkling  of  uni- 
versity men  among  them,  they  soon  had  a  college 
of  their  own.  Indeed,  Harvard  graduated  its  first 
class  as  early  as  1642. 

Supplementing  these  pioneers,  came  mechanics 
and  artisans  eager  to  better  their  condition.  Of 
the  serving  class,  only  a  few  came  willingly.  These 
were  the  "free-willers"  or  "redemptioners,"  who 
sold  their  services  usually  for  a  term  of  five  years  to 
pay  for  their  passage  money.  But  the  great  mass 
of  unskilled  labor  necessary  to  clear  the  forests  and 
do  the  other  hard  work  so  plentiful  in  a  pioneer 
land  came  to  America  under  duress.  Kidnaping 
or  "spiriting"  achieved  the  perfection  of  a  fine  art 
under  the  second  Charles.  Boys  and  girls  of  the 
poorer  classes,  those  wretched  waifs  who  thronged 
the  streets  of  London  and  other  towns,  were  hustled 
on  board  ships  and  virtually  sold  into  slavery  for  a 
term  of  years.  It  is  said  that  in  1670  alone  ten 
thousand  persons  were  thus  kidnaped;  and  one 
kidnaper  testified  in  1671  that  he  had  sent  five 
hundred  persons  a*  year  to  the  colonies  for  twelve 
years  and  another  that  he  had  sent  840  in  one  year. 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  9 

Transportation  of  the  idle  poor  was  another  com- 
mon source  for  providing  servants.  In  1663  an  act 
was  passed  by  Parliament  empowering  Justices  of 
the  Peace  to  send  rogues,  vagrants,  and  "sturdy 
beggars"  to  the  colonies.  These  men  belonged  to 
the  class  of  the  unfortunate  rather  than  the  vicious 
and  were  the  product  of  a  passing  state  of  soci- 
ety, though  criminals  also  were  deported.  Virginia 
and  other  colonies  vigorously  protested  against 
this  practice,  but  their  protests  were  ignored  by  the 
Crown.  When,  however,  it  is  recalled  that  in  those 
years  the  list  of  capital  offenses  was  appalling  in 
length,  that  the  larceny  of  a  few  shillings  was  pun- 
ishable by  death,  that  many  of  the  victims  were 
deported  because  of  religious  differences  and  po- 
litical offenses,  then  the  stigma  of  crime  is  erased. 
And  one  does  not  wonder  that  some  of  these  trans- 
ported persons  rose  to  places  of  distinction  and 
honor  in  the  colonies  and  that  many  of  them  be- 
came respected  citizens.  Maryland,  indeed,  re- 
cruited her  schoolmasters  from  among  their  ranks. 
Indentured  service  was  an  institution  of  that 
time,  as  was  slavery.  The  lot  of  the  indentured 
servant  was  not  ordinarily  a  hard  one.  Here  and 
there  masters  were  cruel  and  inhuman.  But  in  a 
new  country  where  hands  were  so  few  and  work 


10  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

so  abundant,  it  was  wisdom  to  be  tolerant  and 
humane.  Servants  who  had  worked  out  their  time 
usually  became  tenants  or  freeholders,  often  mov- 
ing to  other  colonies  and  later  to  the  interior  be- 
yond the  "fall  line,"  where  they  became  pioneers 
in  their  turn. 

The  most  important  and  influential  influx  of  non- 
English  stock  into  the  colonies  was  the  copious 
stream  of  Scotch-Irish.  Frontier  life  was  not  a  new 
experience  to  these  hardy  and  remarkable  people. 
Ulster,  when  they  migrated  thither  from  Scotland 
in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century,  was  a 
wild  moorland,  and  the  Irish  were  more  than  un- 
friendly neighbors.  Yet  these  transplanted  Scotch 
changed  the  fens  and  mires  into  fields  and  gardens; 
in  three  generations  they  had  built  flourishing 
towns  and  were  doing  a  thriving  manufacture  in 
linens  and  woolens.  Then  England,  in  her  mercan- 
tilist blindness,  began  to  pass  legislation  that  aimed 
to  cut  off  these  fabrics  from  English  competition. 
Soon  thousands  of  Ulster  artisans  were  out  of  work. 
Nor  was  their  religion  immune  from  English  attack, 
for  these  Ulstermen  were  Presbyterians.  These 
civil,  religious,  and  economic  persecutions  thereupon 
drove  to  America  an  ethnic  strain  that  has  had  an 
influence  upon  the  character  of  the  nation  far  out 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  11 

of  proportion  to  its  relative  numbers.  In  the  long 
list  of  leaders  in  American  politics  and  enterprise 
and  in  every  branch  of  learning,  Scotch-Irish  names 
are  common. 

There  had  been  some  trade  between  Ulster  and 
the  colonies,  and  a  few  Ulstermen  had  settled  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland  and  in  Virginia  be- 
fore the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Between 
1714  and  1720,  fifty-four  ships  arrived  in  Boston 
with  immigrants  from  Ireland.  They  were  care- 
fully scrutinized  by  the  Puritan  exclusionists.  Cot- 
ton Mather  wrote  in  his  diary  on  August  7,  1718: 
"But  what  shall  be  done  for  the  great  number  of 
people  that  are  transporting  themselves  thither 
from  ye  North  of  Ireland?  "  And  John  Winthrop, 
speaking  of  twenty  ministers  and  their  congregar 
tions  that  were  expected  the  same  year,  said,  "I 
wish  their  coming  so  over  do  not  prove  f atall  in  the 
End."  They  were  not  welcome,  and  had,  evi- 
dently, no  intention  of  burdening  the  towns.  Most 
of  them  promptly  moved  on  beyond  the  New 
England  settlements. 

The  great  mass  of  Scotch-Irish,  however,  came 
to  Pennsylvania,  and  in  such  large  numbers  that 
James  Logan,  the  Secretary  of  the  Province,  wrote 
to  the  Proprietors  in  1729:  "It  looks  as  if  Ireland 


12  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

is  to  send  all  its  inhabitants  hither,  for  last  week 
not  less  than  six  ships  arrived,  and  every  day  two 
or  three  arrive  also. " r  These  colonists  did  not  re- 
main in  the  towns  but,  true  to  their  traditions, 
pushed  on  to  the  frontier.  They  found  their  way 
over  the  mountain  trails  into  the  western  part  of 
the  colony;  they  pushed  southward  along  the  fertile 
plateaus  that  terrace  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains 
and  offer  a  natural  highway  to  the  South;  into  Vir- 
ginia, where  they  possessed  themselves  of  the  beau- 
tiful Shenandoah  Valley;  into  Maryland  and  the 
Carolinas;  until  the  whole  western  frontier,  from 
Georgia  to  New  York  and  from  Massachusetts  to 
Maine,  was  the  skirmish  line  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
taking  possession  of  the  wilderness. 

The  rebellions  of  the  Pretenders  in  Scotland  in 
1715  and  1745  and  the  subsequent  break-up  of  the 
clan  system  produced  a  considerable  migration 
to  the  colonies  from  both  the  Highlands  and  the 
Lowlands.  These  new  colonists  settled  largely  in 
the  Carolinas  and  in  Maryland.  The  political 

*  In  1773  and  1774  over  thirty  thousand  came.  In  the  latter 
year  Benjamin  Franklin  estimated  the  population  of  Pennsyl- 
vania at  850,000,  of  which  number  one-third  was  thought  to  be 
Scotch-Irish.  John  Fiske  states  that  half  a  million,  all  told,  ar- 
rived in  the  colonies  before  1776,  "  making  not  less  than  one-sixth 
part  of  our  population  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution. " 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  13 

prisoners,  of  whom  there  were  many  in  consequence 
of  the  rebellions,  were  sold  into  service,  usually  for 
a  term  of  fourteen  years.  In  Pennsylvania  the 
Welsh  founded  a  number  of  settlements  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Philadelphia.  There  were  Irish 
servants  in  all  the  colonies  and  in  Maryland  many 
Irish  Catholics  joined  their  fellow  Catholics  from 
England. 

In  1683  a  group  of  religious  refugees  from  the 
Rhineland  founded  Germantown,  near  Philadel- 
phia. Soon  other  German  communities  were 
started  in  the  neighboring  counties.  Chief  among 
these  German  sectarians  were  the  Mennonites,  fre- 
quently called  the  German  Quakers,  so  nearly  did 
their  religious  peculiarities  match  those  of  the  fol- 
lowers of  Penn;  the  Dunkers,  a  Baptist  sect,  who 
seem  to  have  come  from  Germany  boot  and  bag- 
gage, leaving  not  one  of  then*  number  behind;  and 
the  Moravians,  whose  missionary  zeal  and  gentle 
demeanor  have  made  them  beloved  in  many  lands. 
The  peculiar  religious  devotions  of  the  sectarians 
still  left  them  time  to  cultivate  their  inclination  for 
literature  and  music.  There  were  a  few  distin- 
guished scholars  among  them  and  some  of  the  finest 
examples  of  early  American  books  bear  the  imprint 
of  their  presses. 


14  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

This  modest  beginning  of  the  German  invasion 
was  soon  followed  by  more  imposing  additions. 
The  repeated  strategic  devastations  of  the  Rhenish 
Palatinate  during  the  French  and  Spanish  wars  re- 
duced the  peasantry  to  beggary,  and  the  medieval 
social  stratification  of  Germany  reduced  them 
to  virtual  serfdom,  from  which  America  offered 
emancipation.  Queen  Anne  invited  the  harassed 
peasants  of  this  region  to  come  to  England,  whence 
they  could  be  transferred  to  America.  Over  thirty 
thousand  took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  in 
the  years  1708  and  1709.  *  Some  of  them  found 
occupation  in  England  and  others  in  Ireland,  but 
the  majority  migrated,  some  to  New  York,  where 
they  settled  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  others  to  the 
Carolinas,  but  far  more  to  Pennsylvania,  where, 
with  an  instinct  born  of  generations  of  contact  with 
the  soil,  they  sought  out  the  most  promising  areas 
in  the  limestone  valleys  of  the  eastern  part  of  that 
colony,  cleared  the  land,  built  their  solid  homes  and 
ample  barns,  and  clung  to  their  language,  customs, 
and  religion  so  tenaciously  that  to  this  day  their 
descendants  are  called  "Pennsylvania  Dutch." 

After  1717  multitudes  of  German  peasants  were 

'John  Fiskc:  The  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America,  vol. 
II.  p.  351. 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  15 

lured  to  America  by  unscrupulous  agents  called 
"new-landers"  or  "soul-stealers,"  who,  for  a  com- 
mission paid  by  the  shipmaster,  lured  the  peasant 
to  sell  his  belongings,  scrape  together  or  borrow 
what  he  could,  and  migrate.  The  agents  and  cap- 
tains then  saw  to  it  that  few  arrived  in  Philadelphia 
out  of  debt.  As  a  result  the  immigrants  were  sold 
to  "soul-drivers,"  who  took  them  to  the  interior 
and  indentured  them  to  farmers,  usually  of  their 
own  race.  These  redemptioners,  as  they  were 
called,  served  from  three  to  five  years  and  generally 
received  fifty  acres  of  land  at  the  expiration  of 
their  service. 

On  the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  by 
Louis  XIV  in  1685  French  Protestants  fled  in  vast 
numbers  to  England  and  to  Holland.  Thence 
many  of  them  found  their  way  to  America,  but 
very  few  came  hither  directly  from  France.  South 
Carolina,  Virginia,  New  York,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Massachusetts  were  favored  by  those  noble  refu- 
gees, who  included  in  their  numbers  not  only 
skilled  artisans  and  successful  merchants  but  dis- 
tinguished scholars  and  professional  men  in  whose 
veins  flowed  some  of  the  best  blood  of  France. 
They  readily  identified  themselves  with  the  indus- 
tries and  aspirations  of  the  colonies  and  at  once 


16  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

became  leaders  in  the  professional  and  business  life 
in  their  communities.  In  Boston,  in  Charleston, 
in  New  York,  and  in  other  commercial  centers,  the 
names  of  streets,  squares,  and  public  buildings  at- 
test their  prominence  in  trade  and  politics.  Few 
names  are  more  illustrious  than  those  of  Paul  Re- 
vere, Peter  Faneuil,  and  James  Bowdoin  of  Mas- 
sachusetts; John  Jay,  Nicholas  Bayard,  Stephen 
DeLancey  of  New  York;  Ellas  Boudinot  of  New 
Jersey;  Henry  Laurens  and  Francis  Marion  of  South 
Carolina.  Like  the  Scotch-Irish,  these  French  Prot- 
estants and  their  descendants  have  distinguished 
themselves  for  their  capacity  for  leadership. 

The  Jews  came  early  to  New  York,  and  as  far 
back  as  1691  they  had  a  synagogue  in  Manhattan. 
The  civil  disabilities  then  so  common  in  Europe 
were  not  enforced  against  them  in  America,  except 
that  they  could  not  vote  for  members  of  the  legis- 
lature. As  that  body  itself  declared  in  1737,  the 
Jews  did  not  possess  the  parliamentary  franchise  in 
England,  and  no  special  act  had  endowed  them 
with  this  right  in  the  colonies.  The  earliest  repre- 
sentatives of  this  race  in  America  came  to  New 
Amsterdam  with  the  Dutch  and  were  nearly  all 
Spanish  and  Portuguese  Jews,  who  had  found 
refuge  in  Holland  after  their  wholesale  expulsion 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  17 

from  the  Iberian  peninsula  in  1492.  Rhode  Island, 
too,  and  Pennsylvania  had  a  substantial  Jewish 
population.  The  Jews  settled  characteristically  in 
the  towns  and  soon  became  a  factor  in  commercial 
enterprise.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  they  contributed 
liberally  to  the  patriot  cause  in  the  Revolution. 

While  the  ships  bearing  these  many  different 
stocks  were  sailing  westward,  England  did  not  gain 
possession  of  the  whole  Atlantic  seaboard  without 
contest.  The  Dutch  came  to  Manhattan  in  1623 
and  for  fifty  years  held  sway  over  the  imperial  valley 
of  the  Hudson.  It  was  a  brief  interval,  as  history 
goes,  but  it  was  long  enough  to  stamp  upon  the 
town  of  Manhattan  the  cosmopolitan  character  it 
has  ever  since  maintained.  Into  its  liberal  and  con- 
genial atmosphere  were  drawn  Jews,  Moravians, 
and  Anabaptists;  Scotch  Presbyterians  and  Eng- 
lish Nonconformists ;  Waldenses  from  Piedmont  and 
Huguenots  from  France.  The  same  spirit  that  made 
Holland  the  lenient  host  to  political  and  religious 
refugees  from  every  land  in  that  restive  age  charac- 
terized her  colony  and  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
great  city  of  today.  England  had  to  wrest  from 
the  Dutch  their  ascendancy  in  New  Netherland, 
where  they  split  in  twain  the  great  English  colonies 
of  New  England  and  of  the  South  and  controlled 


18  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

the  magnificent  harbor  at  the  mouth  of  the  Hud- 
son, which  has  since  become  the  water  gate  of 
the  nation. 

While  the  English  were  thus  engaged  in  estab- 
lishing themselves  on  the  coast,  the  French  girt 
them  hi  by  a  strategic  circle  of  forts  and  trading 
posts  reaching  from  Acadia,  up  the  St.  Lawrence, 
around  the  Great  Lakes,  and  down  the  valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  with  outposts  on  the  Ohio  and 
other  important  confluents.  When,  after  the  final 
struggle  between  France  and  Britain  for  world 
empire,  France  retired  from  the  North  American 
continent,  she  left  to  England  all  her  possessions 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
insignificant  islands  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  West  Indies;  and  to  Spain  she  ceded  New 
Orleans  and  her  vast  claims  beyond  the  great  river. 

Thus  from  the  first,  the  lure  of  the  New  World 
beckoned  to  many  races,  and  to  every  condition 
of  men.  By  the  time  that  England's  dominion 
spread  over  half  the  northern  continent,  her  col- 
onies were  no  longer  merely  English.  They  were 
the  most  cosmopolitan  areas  in  the  world.  A  few 
European  cities  had  at  times  been  cities  of  refuge, 
but  New  York  and  Philadelphia  were  more  than 
mere  temporary  shelters  to  every  creed.  Nowhere 


OPENING  THE  DOOR  19 

else  could  so  many  tongues  be  heard  as  in  a  stroll 
down  Broadway  to  the  Battery.  No  European 
commonwealths  embraced  in  their  citizenry  one- 
half  the  ethnic  diversity  of  the  Carolinas  or  of 
Pennsylvania.  And  within  the  wide  range  of  his 
American  domains,  the  English  King  could  point 
to  one  spot  or  another  and  say:  "Here  the  Span- 
iards have  built  a  chaste  and  beautiful  mission; 
here  the  French  have  founded  a  noble  city;  here 
my  stubborn  Roundheads  have  planted  a  whole 
nest  of  commonwealths;  here  my  Dutch  neigh- 
bors thought  they  stole  a  march  on  me,  but  I  fore- 
stalled them;  this  valley  is  filled  with  Germans,  and 
that  plateau  is  covered  with  Scotch-Irish,  while  the 
Swedes  have  taken  possession  of  all  this  region." 
And  with  a  proud  gesture  he  could  add,  "But  every- 
where they  read  then*  laws  in  the  King's  English 
and  acknowledge  my  sovereignty. " 

Against  the  shifting  background  of  history  these 
many  races  of  diverse  origin  played  their  individual 
parts,  each  contributing  its  essential  characteris- 
tics to  the  growing  complex  of  a  new  order  of 
society  in  America.  So  on  this  stage,  broad  as 
the  western  world,  we  see  these  men  of  different 
strains  subduing  a  wilderness  and  welding  its  di- 
verse parts  into  a  great  nation,  stretching  out  the 


20  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

eager  hand  of  exploration  for  yet  more  land,  bring- 
ing with  arduous  toil  the  ample  gifts  of  sea  and  for- 
est to  the  townsfolk,  hewing  out  homesteads  in  the 
savage  wilderness,  laboring  faithfully  at  forge  and 
shipyard  and  loom,  bartering  in  the  market  place, 
putting  the  fear  of  God  into  their  children  and  the 
fear  of  their  own  strong  right  arm  into  him  whoso- 
ever sought  to  oppress  them,  be  he.  Red  Man  with 
his  tomahawk  or  English  King  with  his  Stamp  Act. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE    AMERICAN    STOCK 

IN  the  history  of  a  word  we  may  frequently  find 
a  fragment,  sometimes  a  large  section,  of  univer- 
sal history.  This  is  exemplified  in  the  term 
American,  a  name  which,  in  the  phrase  of  George 
Washington,  "must  always  exalt  the  pride  of 
patriotism"  and  which  today  is  proudly  borne 
by  a  hundred  million  people.  There  is  no  ob- 
scurity about  the  origin  of  the  name  America. 
It  was  suggested  for  the  New  World  in  1507  by 
Martin  Waldseemiiller,  a  German  geographer  at 
the  French  college  of  Saint-Die.  In  that  year 
this  savant  printed  a  tract,  with  a  map  of  the 
world  or  mappemonde,  recognizing  the  dubious 
claims  of  discovery  set  up  by  Amerigo  Vespucci 
and  naming  the  new  continent  after  him.  At 
first  applied  only  to  South  America,  the  name  was 
afterwards  extended  to  mean  the  northern  conti- 
nent as  well;  and  in  time  the  whole  New  World, 

21 


22  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

from  the  Frozen  Ocean  to  the  Land  of  Fire,  came 
to  be  called  America. 

Inevitably  the  people  who  achieved  a  prepon- 
derating influence  in  the  new  continent  came  to 
be  called  Americans.  Today  the  name  Ameri- 
can everywhere  signifies  belonging  to  the  United 
States,  and  a  citizen  of  that  country  is  called  an 
American.  This  unquestionably  is  geographically 
anomalous,  for  the  neighbors  of  the  United  States, 
both  north  and  south,  may  claim  an  equal  share  in 
the  term.  Ethnically,  the  only  real  Americans  are 
the  Indian  descendants  of  the  aboriginal  races.  But 
it  is  futile  to  combat  universal  usage:  the  World 
War  has  clinched  the  name  upon  the  inhabitants 
of  the  United  States.  The  American  army,  the 
American  navy,  American  physicians  and  nurses, 
American  food  and  clothing  —  these  are  phrases 
with  a  definite  geographical  and  ethnic  meaning 
which  neither  academic  ingenuity  nor  race  rivalry 
can  erase  from  the  memory  of  mankind. 

This  chapter,  however,  is  to  discuss  the  Ameri- 
can stock,  and  it  is  necessary  to  look  farther  back 
than  mere  citizenship;  for  there  are  millions  of 
American  citizens  of  foreign  birth  or  parentage 
who,  though  they  are  Americans,  are  clearly  not  of 
any  American  stock. 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  23 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  there  was  a  defi- 
nite American  population,  knit  together  by  over 
two  centuries  of  toil  in  the  hard  school  of  frontier 
life,  inspired  by  common  political  purposes,  speak- 
ing one  language,  worshiping  one  God  in  divers 
manners,  acknowledging  one  sovereignty,  and  com- 
plying with  the  mandates  of  one  common  law. 
Through  their  common  experience  in  subduing  the 
wilderness  and  in  wresting  their  independence  from 
an  obstinate  and  stupid  monarch,  the  English  colo- 
nies became  a  nation.  Though  they  did  not  ful- 
fill Raleigh's  hope  and  become  an  English  nation, 
they  were  much  more  English  than  non-English, 
and  these  Revolutionary  Americans  may  be  called 
today,  without  abuse  of  the  term,  the  original 
American  stock.  Though  they  were  a  blend  of 
various  races,  a  cosmopolitan  admixture  of  ethnic 
strains,  they  were  not  more  varied  than  the  original 
admixture  of  blood  now  called  English. 

We  may,  then,  properly  begin  our  survey  of  the 
racial  elements  in  the  United  States  by  a  brief  scru- 
tiny of  this  American  stock,  the  parent  stem  of  the 
American  people,  the  great  trunk,  whose  roots  have 
penetrated  deep  into  the  human  experience  of  the 
past  and  whose  branches  have  pushed  upward  and 
outward  until  they  spread  over  a  whole  continent. 


24  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  first  census  of  the  United  States  was  taken 
in  1790.  More  than  a  hundred  years  later,  in  1909, 
the  Census  Bureau  published  A  Century  of  Popu- 
lation Growth  in  which  an  attempt  was  made  to  as- 
certain the  nationality  of  those  who  comprised  the 
population  at  the  taking  of  the  first  census.  In 
that  census  no  questions  of  nativity  were  asked. 
This  omission  is  in  itself  significant  of  the  homo- 
geneity of  the  population  at  that  time.  The  only 
available  data,  therefore,  upon  which  such  a  calcu- 
lation could  be  made  were  the  surnames  of  the 
heads  of  families  preserved  in  the  schedules.  A 
careful  analysis  of  the  list  disclosed  a  surprisingly 
large  number  of  names  ostensibly  English  or  Brit- 
ish. Fashions  in  names  have  changed  since  then, 
and  many  that  were  so  curious,  simple,  or  fantas- 
tically compounded  as  to  be  later  deemed  undigni- 
fied have  undergone  change  or  disappeared. x 

1  Among  the  names  which  have  quite  vanished  were  those  per- 
taining to  household  matters,  such  as  Hash,  Butter,  Waffle,  Booze, 
Frill,  Shirt,  Lace;  or  describing  human  characteristics,  as  Booby, 
Dunce,  Sallow.  Daft,  Lazy,  Measley,  Rude;  or  parts  of  the  body 
and  its  ailments,  as  Hips,  Bones,  Chin,  Glands,  Gout,  Corns, 
Physic;  or  representing  property,  as  Shingle,  Gutters,  Pump, 
Milkhouse,  Desk,  Mug,  Auction,  Hose,  Tallow.  Nature  also  was 
drawn  upon  for  a  large  number  of  names.  The  colors  Black. 
Brown,  and  Gray  survive,  but  Lavender,  Tan,  and  Scarlet  have 
gone  out  of  vogue.  Bogs,  Hazelgrove,  Woodyfield,  Oysterbanks, 
Chestnut,  Pinks,  Ragbush,  Winterberry,  Peach,  Walnut,  Freeze, 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  25 

Upon  this  basis  the  nationality  of  the  white  popu- 
lation was  distributed  among  the  States  in  accord- 
ance with  Table  A  printed  on  pages  26-27.  Three 
of  the  original  States  are  not  represented  in  this 
table:  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Georgia.  The 
schedules  of  the  First  Census  for  those  States 
were  not  preserved.  The  two  new  States  of  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee  are  also  missing  from  the  list. 
Estimates,  however,  have  been  made  for  these 
missing  States. 

For  Delaware,  the  schedules  of  the  Second  Cen- 
sus, 1800,  survived.  As  there  was  little  growth 
and  very  little  change  in  the  composition  of  the 
population  during  this  decade,  the  Census  Bureau 
used  the  later  figures  as  a  basis  for  calculating  the 
population  in  1790.  Of  three  of  the  missing  South- 
ern States  the  report  says:  "The  composition  of 
the  white  population  of  Georgia,  Kentucky,  and  of 
the  district  subsequently  erected  into  the  State  of 
Tennessee  is  also  unknown;  but  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  Georgia  was  a  distinctly  English  colony,  and 
that  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  were  settled  largely 

Coldair,  Bear,  Tails,  Chick,  Bantam,  Stork,  Worm,  Snake,  and 
Maggot  indicate  the  simple  origin  of  many  names.  There  were 
many  strange  combinations  of  Christian  names  and  surnames: 
Peter  Wentup,  Christy  Forgot,  Unity  Bachelor,  Booze  Still,  Cut- 
lip  Hoof,  and  Wanton  Bump  left  little  to  the  imagination. 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 


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28 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 

TABLE   B 


COMPUTED  DISTRIBUTION  OP  WHITE  POPULATION,  1790,  ACCORDING 

TO  NATIONALITY,  IN  EACH  STATE  FOR  WHICH  SCHEDULES 

ABE  MISSING 


NATIONALITY 

NEW   JERSEY 

DELAWARE 

GEORGIA 

AH  Nationalities 

169,954 

100.0 

46,310 

100.0 

52,886 

100.0 

English 

98,620 

58.0 

39,966 

86.3 

43,948 

83.1 

Scotch 

18,156 

7.7 

3,473 

7.5 

5,923 

11.2 

Irish 

12,099 

7.1 

1,806 

3.9 

1,216 

2.3 

Dutch 

21,581 

12.7 

463 

1.0 

106 

0.2 

French 

3,565 

2.1 

232 

0.5 

159 

0.3 

German 

15,678 

9.2 

185 

0.4 

1,481 

2.8 

All  others* 

5,255 

3.1 

185 

0.4 

53 

0.1 

NATIONALITY 

KENTUCKY 

TENNESSEE 

All  Nationalities 

61,133 

100.0 

31,913 

100.0 

English 

50,802 

83.1 

26,519 

83.1 

Scotch 

6,847 

11.2 

3,574 

11.2 

Irish 

1,406 

2.3 

734 

2.3 

Dutch 

122 

0.2 

64 

0.2 

French 

183 

0.3 

96 

0.3 

German 

1.712 

2.8 

894 

2.8 

All  others* 

61 

0.1 

32 

0.1 

*  Including  Hebrews. 

from  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  the  application 
of  the  North  Carolina  proportions  to  the  white 
population  of  these  three  results  in  what  is  doubt- 
less an  approximation  of  the  actual  distribution. " 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  29 

New  Jersey  presented  a  more  complex  problem. 
Here  were  Welsh  and  Swedes,  Finns  and  Danes, 
as  well  as  French,  Dutch,  Scotch,  Irish,  and  English. 
A  careful  analysis  was  made  of  lists  of  freeholders, 
and  other  available  sources,  in  the  various  counties. 
The  results  of  these  computations  in  the  States 
from  which  nc  schedules  of  the  First  Census  sur- 
vive are  given  in  Table  B  printed  on  page  28. 

The  calculations  for  the  entire  country  in  1790, 
based  upon  the  census  schedules  of  the  States  from 
which  reports  are  still  available  and  upon  estimates 
for  the  others  are  summed  up  in  the  following 
manner: 

Number  and  per  cent  distribution  of  the  white  population, 

1790: 

Nationality  Number          Per  Cent 

All  Nationalities  3,172,444  100.0 

English  2,605,699  82.1 

Scotch  221,562  7.0 

Irish  61,534  1.9 

Dutch  78,959  2.5 

French  17,619  0.6 

German  176,407  5.6 

All  others  10,664  0.3 

To  this  method  of  estimating  nationality,  it  will 
at  once  be  objected  that  undue  prominence  is  given 


30  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

to  the  derivation  of  the  surname,  an  objection  fully 
understood  by  those  who  made  the  estimate  and 
one  which  deprives  their  conclusions  of  strict  scien- 
tific verity.  In  a  new  country,  where  the  popula- 
tion is  in  a  constant  flux  and  where  members  of  a 
community  composed  of  one  race  easily  migrate  to 
another  part  of  the  country  and  fall  in  with  people 
of  another  race,  it  is  very  easy  to  modify  the  name 
to  suit  new  circumstances.  We  know,  for  instance, 
that  Isaac  Isaacks  of  Pennsylvania  was  not  a  Jew, 
that  the  Van  Buskirks  of  New  Jersey  were  German, 
not  Dutch,  that  D'Aubigne  was  early  shortened 
into  Dabny  and  Aulnay  into  Olney.  So  also  many 
a  Brown  had  been  Braun,  and  several  Blacks  had 
once  been  only  Schwartz.  Even  the  universal  Smith 
had  absorbed  more  than  one  original  Schmidt. 
These  rather  exceptional  cases,  however,  probably 
do  not  vitiate  the  general  conclusion  here  made  as 
to  the  British  and  non-British  element  in  the  popu- 
lation of  America,  for  the  Dutch,  the  German,  the 
French,  and  the  Swedish  cognomens  are  character- 
istically different  from  the  British.  But  the  dif- 
ferentiation between  Irish,  Welsh,  Scotch,  Scotch- 
Irish,  and  English  names  is  infinitely  more  difficult. 
The  Scotch-Irish  particularly  have  challenged  the 
conclusions  reached  by  the  Census  Bureau.  They 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  31 

claim  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  original  bulk 
of  our  population  than  the  seven  per  cent  included 
under  the  heading  Scotch.  Henry  Jones  Ford  con- 
siders the  conclusions  as  far  as  they  pertain  to  the 
Scotch-Irish  as  "fallacious  and  untrustworthy." 
"Many  Ulster  names,"  he  says,1  "are  also  com- 
mon English  names.  .  .  .  Names  classed  as  Scotch 
or  Irish  were  probably  mostly  those  of  Scotch-Irish 
families.  .  .  .  The  probability  is  that  the  Eng- 
lish proportion  should  be  much  smaller  and  that  the 
Scotch-Irish,  who  are  not  included  in  the  Census 
Bureau's  classification,  should  be  much  larger  than 
the  combined  proportions  allotted  to  the  Scotch  and 
the  Irish." 

Whatever  may  be  the  actual  proportions  of  these 
British  elements,  as  revealed  by  a  study  of  the 
patronymics  of  the  population  at  the  time  of  Amer- 
ican independence,  the  fact  that  the  ethnic  stock 
was  overwhelmingly  British  stands  out  most  prom- 
inently. We  shall  never  know  the  exact  ratios  be- 
tween the  Scotch  and  the  English,  the  Welsh  and 
the  Irish  blended  in  this  hardy,  self-assertive,  and 
fecund  strain.  But  we  do  know  that  the  lan- 
guage, the  political  institutions,  and  the  common 
law  as  practiced  and  established  in  London  had  a 

1  The  Scotch-Irish  in  America,  pp.  219-20. 


32  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

predominating  influence  on  the  destinies  of  the  Unit- 
ed States.  While  the  colonists  drifted  far  from  the 
religious  establishments  of  the  mother  country  and 
found  her  commercial  policies  unendurable  and  her 
political  hauteur  galling,  they  nevertheless  retained 
those  legal  and  institutional  forms  which  remain 
the  foundation  of  Anglo-Saxon  life. 

For  nearly  hah*  a  century  the  American  stock  re- 
mained almost  entirely  free  from  foreign  admixture. 
It  is  estimated  that  between  1790  and  1820  only 
250,000  immigrants  came  to  America,  and  of  these 
the  great  majority  came  after  the  War  of  1812. 
The  white  population  of  the  United  States  in  1820 
was  7,862,166.  Ten  years  later  it  had  risen  to 
10,537,378.  This  astounding  increase  was  almost 
wholly  due  to  the  fecundity  of  the  native  stock. 
The  equitable  balance  between  the  sexes,  the  ease 
of  acquiring  a  home,  the  vigorous  pioneer  environ- 
ment, and  the  informal  frontier  social  conditions  all 
encouraged  large  families.  Early  marriages  were 
encouraged.  Bachelors  and  unmarried  women  were 
rare.  Girls  were  matrons  at  twenty-five  and  grand- 
mothers at  forty.  Three  generations  frequently 
dwelt  in  one  homestead.  Families  of  five  persons 
were  the  rule;  families  of  eight  or  ten  were  common, 
while  families  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  did  not  elicit 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  33 

surprise.  It  was  the  father's  ambition  to  leave  a 
farm  to  every  son  and,  if  the  neighborhood  was 
too  densely  settled  easily  to  permit  this,  there  was 
the  West  —  always  the  West. 

This  was  a  race  of  nation  builders.  No  sooner 
had  he  made  the  Declaration  of  Independence  a  real- 
ity than  the  eager  pathfinder  turned  his  face  towards 
the  setting  sun  and,  prompted  by  the  instincts  of 
conquest,  he  plunged  into  the  wilderness.  Within 
a  few  years  western  New  York  and  Pennsylvania 
were  settled;  Kentucky  achieved  statehood  in  1792 
and  Tennessee  four  years  later,  soon  to  be  followed 
by  Mississippi  in  1817  and  Alabama  in  1819.  The 
great  Northwest  Territory  yielded  Ohio  in  1802, 
Indiana  in  1816,  Illinois  in  1818,  and  Michigan  in 
1837.  Beyond  the  Mississippi  the  empire  of  Lou- 
isiana doubled  the  original  area  of  the  Republic; 
Louisiana  came  into  statehood  in  1812  and  Mis- 
souri in  1821.  Texas,  Oregon,  and  the  fruits  of  the 
Mexican  War  extended  its  confines  to  the  Western 
Sea.  Incredibly  swift  as  was  this  march  of  the  Stars, 
the  American  pioneer  was  always  in  advance. 

The  pathfinders  were  virtually  all  of  American 
stock.  The  States  admitted  to  the  Union  prior  to 
1840  were  not  only  founded  by  them;  they  were 
almost  wholly  settled  by  them.  When  the  influx  of 


34  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

foreigners  began  in  the  thirties,  they  found  all  the 
trails  already  blazed,  the  trading  posts  established, 
and  the  first  terrors  of  the  wilderness  dispelled. 
They  found  territories  already  metamorphosed  in- 
to States,  counties  organized,  cities  established. 
Schools,  churches,  and  colleges  preceded  the  immi- 
grants who  were  settlers  and  not  strictly  pioneers. 
The  entire  territory  ceded  by  the  Treaty  of  1783 
was  appropriated  in  large  measure  by  the  American 
before  the  advent  of  the  European  immigrant. 

Washington,  with  a  ring  of  pride,  said  in  1796 
that  the  native  population  of  America  was  "fill- 
ing the  western  part  of  the  State  of  New  York 
and  the  country  on  the  Ohio  with  their  own  sur- 
plusage. "  And  James  Madison  in  1821  wrote  that 
New  England,  "  which  has  sent  out  such  a  contin- 
ued swarm  to  other  parts  of  the  Union  for  a  number 
of  years,  has  continued  at  the  same  time,  as  the  cen- 
sus shows,  to  increase  in  population  although  it  is 
well  known  that  it  has  received  but  comparatively 
few  emigrants  from  any  quarter."  Beyond  the 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  with  its  Creole  population, 
was  feeling  the  effect  of  American  migration. 

A  strange  restlessness,  of  the  race  rather  than  of 
the  individual,  possessed  the  American  frontiers- 
man. He  moved  from  one  locality  to  another,  but 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  35 

always  westward,  like  some  new  migratory  species 
that  had  willingly  discarded  the  instinct  for  return- 
ing. He  never  took  the  back  trail.  A  traveler, 
writing  in  1791  from  the  Ohio  Valley,  rather  super- 
ficially observed  that  "the  Americans  are  lazy  and 
bored,  often  moving  from  place  to  place  for  the  sake 
of  change;  in  the  thirty  years  that  the  [western] 
Pennsylvania  neighborhood  has  been  settled,  it  has 
changed  owners  two  or  three  times.  The  sight  of 
money  will  tempt  any  American  to  sell  and  off  he 
goes  to  a  new  country. "  Foreign  observers  of  that 
time  constantly  allude  to  this  universal  and  inex- 
plicable restiveness.  It  was  obviously  not  laziness, 
for  pioneering  was  a  man's  task;  nor  boredom,  for 
the  frontier  was  lonely  and  neighbors  were  far  apart. 
It  was  an  ever-present  dissatisfaction  that  drove 
this  perpetual  conqueror  onward  —  a  mysterious 
impulse,  the  urge  of  vague  and  unfulfilled  desires. 
He  went  forward  with  a  conquering  ambition  in  his 
heart;  he  believed  he  was  the  forerunner  of  a  great 
National  Destiny.  Crude  rhymes  of  the  day  voice 
this  feeling: 

So  shall  the  nation's  pioneer  go  joyful  on  his  way, 
To  wed  Penobscot  water  to  San  Francisco  Bay. 
The  mighty  West  shall  bless  the  East,  and  sea 
shall  answer  sea, 


36  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

And  mountain  unto  mountain  call,  praise  God, 
for  we  are  free! 

Again  a  popular  chorus  of  the  pathfinder  rang: 

Then  o'er  the  hills  in  legions,  boys; 

Fair  freedom's  star 
Points  to  the  sunset  regions,  boys, 

Ha,  Ha,  Ha-ha! 

Many  a  New  Englander  cleared  a  farm  in  west- 
ern New  York,  Ohio,  or  Indiana,  before  settling 
finally  in  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  or  Minnesota,  whence 
he  sent  his  sons  on  to  Dakota,  Montana,  Oregon, 
and  California.  From  Tennessee  and  Kentucky 
large  numbers  moved  into  southern  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  and  across  the  river  into  Missouri,  Arkansas, 
Louisiana,  and  Texas.  Abraham  Lincoln's  father 
was  one  of  these  pioneers  and  tried  his  luck  in  vari- 
ous localities  in  Kentucky,  Indiana,  and  Illinois. 

Nor  had  the  movement  ceased  after  a  century  of 
continental  exploitation.  Hamlin  Garland  in  his 
notable  autobiography,  A  Son  of  the  Middle  Border, 
brings  down  to  our  own  day  the  evidence  of  this  na- 
tive American  restiveness.  His  parents  came  of 
New  England  extraction,  but  settled  in  Wisconsin. 
His  father,  after  his  return  from  the  Civil  War, 
moved  to  Iowa,  where  he  was  scarcely  ensconced 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  37 

before  an  opportunity  came  to  sell  his  place.  The 
family  then  pushed  out  farther  upon  the  Iowa 
prairie,  where  they  "broke"  a  farm  from  the  prime- 
val turf.  Again,  in  his  ripe  age,  the  father  found 
the  urge  revive  and  under  this  impulse  he  moved 
again,  this  time  to  Dakota,  where  he  remained  long 
enough  to  transform  a  section  of  prairie  into  wheat 
land  before  he  took  the  final  stage  of  his  western 
journeyings  to  southern  California.  Here  he  was 
surrounded  by  neighbors  whose  migration  had  been 
not  unlike  his  own,  and  to  the  same  sunny  region 
another  relative  found  his  way  "by  way  of  a  long 
trail  through  Iowa,  Dakota,  Montana,  Oregon,  and 
North  California. " 

When  the  last  frontier  had  vanished,  it  was  seen 
that  men  of  this  American  stock  had  penetrated 
into  every  valley,  traversed  every  plain,  and  ex- 
plored every  mountain  pass  from  Atlantic  to  Paci- 
fic. They  organized  every  territory  and  prepared 
each  for  statehood.  It  was  the  enterprise  of  these 
sons  and  grandsons  and  great-grandsons  of  the 
Revolutionary  Americans,  obeying  the  restless  im- 
pulse of  a  pioneer  race,  who  spread  a  network  of 
settlements  and  outposts  over  the  entire  land  and 
prepared  it  for  the  immigrant  invasion  from  Europe. 
Owing  to  this  influx  of  foreigners,  the  American 


38  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

stock  has  become  mingled  with  other  strains,  especi- 
ally those  from  Great  Britain. 

The  Census  Bureau  estimated  that  in  1900  there 
were  living  in  the  United  States  approximately 
thirty-five  million  white  people  who  were  descended 
from  persons  enumerated  in  1790.  If  these  thirty- 
five  million  were  distributed  by  nationality  accord- 
ing to  the  proportions  estimated  for  1790,  the  result 
would  appear  as  follows: 


English 

28,735,000 

Scotch 

2,450,000 

Irish 

665,000 

Dutch 

875,000 

French 

210,000 

German 

1,960,000 

All  others 

105,000 

In  1900  there  were  also  thirty-two  million  descend- 
ants of  white  persons  who  had  come  to  the  United 
States  after  the  First  Census,  yet  of  these  over 
twenty  million  were  either  foreign  born  or  the  chil- 
dren of  persons  born  abroad.  If  this  ratio  of  in,- 
crease  remained  the  same,  the  American  stock 
would  apparently  maintain  its  own,  even  in  the 
midst  of  twentieth  century  immigration.  But  the 
birth  rate  of  the  foreign  stock,  especially  among 
the  recent  comers,  is  much  higher  than  of  the  na- 
tive American  stock.  Conditions  have  so  changed 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  39 

that,  according  to  the  Census,  the  American  peo- 
ple "have  concluded  that  they  are  only  about 
one-half  as  well  able  to  rear  children  —  at  any 
rate,  without  personal  sacrifice  —  under  the  con- 
ditions prevailing  in  1900  as  their  predecessors 
proved  themselves  to  be  under  the  conditions 
which  prevailed  in  1790." 

The  difficulty  of  ascertaining  ethnic  influences 
increases  immeasurably  when  we  pass  from  the 
physical  to  the  mental  realm.  There  are  subtle 
interplays  of  delicate  forces  and  reactions  from  en- 
vironment which  no  one  can  measure.  Leadership 
nevertheless  is  the  gift  of  but  few  races;  and  in  the 
United  States  eminence  in  business,  in  statecraft, 
hi  letters  and  learning  can  with  singular  directness 
be  traced  in  a  preponderating  proportion  to  this 
American  stock. 

In  1891  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  published  an  essay 
on  The  Distribution  of  Ability  in  the  United  States,1 
based  upon  the  15,514  names  in  Appleton's  Cyclo- 
pcedia  of  American  Biography  (1887) .  He  "  treated 
as  immigrants  all  persons  who  came  to  the  United 
States  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution," 
and  on  this  division  he  found  14,243  "Americans" 

1  See  The  Century  Magazine,  September,  1891,  and  Lodge's 
Historical  and  Political  Essays,  1892. 


40 

and  1271 

follows : 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 

'immigrants,"  distributed  racially  as 


AMERICANS 


IMMIGRANTS 


English 
Scotch-Irish 

10,376 
1439 

English 
German 

German 

659 

Irish 

Huguenot 
Scotch 

589 
436 

Scotch 
Scotch-Irish 

Dutch 

336 

French 

Welsh 

159 

Canadian  and 

Irish 

109 

British  Colonial 

French 

85 

Scandinavian 

Scandinavian 

31 

Welsh 

Spanish 
Italian 

7 

7 

Belgian 
Swiss 

Swiss 

5 

Dutch 

Greek 

3 

Polish 

Russian 
Polish 

1 
1 

Hungarian 
Italian 

Greek 

Russian 

Spanish 
Portuguese 

345 

245 

200 

151 

88 

63 

60 

18 

16 

15 

15 

14 

13 

11 

10 

3 

2 

1 

1 


Of  the  total  number  of  individuals  selected,  a 
large  number  were  chosen  by  the  editors  as  being  of 
enough  importance  to  entitle  them  to  a  small  por- 
trait in  the  text,  and  fifty-eight  persons  who  had 
achieved  some  unusual  distinction  were  accorded 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  41 

a  full-page  portrait.  These,  however,  represented 
achievement  rather  than  ability,  for  they  included 
the  Presidents  of  the  United  States  and  other 
political  personages.  Of  the  total  number  selected 
for  the  distinction  of  a  small  portrait,  1200  were 
"Americans "  and  71  " immigrants. "  Of  the  1200 
"Americans,"  856  were  of  English  extraction,  129 
Scotch-Irish,  57  Huguenot,  45  Scotch,  39  Dutch, 
37  German,  15  Welsh,  13  Irish,  6  French,  and  one 
each  of  Scandinavian,  Spanish,  and  Swiss.  Of 
the  "immigrants"  15  were  English,  14  German, 
11  Irish,  8  Scotch-Irish,  7  Scotch,  6  Swiss,  4  French, 
3  from  Spanish  Provinces,  and  1  each  from  Scan- 
dinavia, Belgium,  and  Poland.  All  the  58  whose 
full-page  portraits  are  presumed  to  be  an  index  to 
unusual  prominence  were  found  to  be  "Americans" 
and  by  race  extraction  they  were  distributed  as 
follows:  English  41,  Scotch-Irish  8,  Scotch  4, 
Welsh  2,  Dutch,  Spanish,  and  Irish  1  each. 

Whatever  may  be  said  in  objection  to  this  index 
of  ability  (and  Senator  Lodge  effectively  answered 
his  critics  in  a  note  appended  to  this  study  in  his 
volume  of  Historical  and  Political  Essays),  it  is 
apparent  that  a  large  preponderance  of  leadership 
in  American  politics,  business,  art,  literature,  and 
learning  has  been  derived  from  the  American  stock. 


42  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

This  is  a  perfectly  natural  result.  The  founders 
of  the  Republic  themselves  were  in  large  degree 
the  children  of  the  pick  of  Europe.  The  Puritan, 
Cavalier,  Quaker,  Scotch-Irish,  Huguenot,  and 
Dutch  pioneers  were  not  ordinary  folk  in  any  sense 
of  the  term.  They  were,  in  a  measure,  a  race  of 
heroes.  Their  sons  and  grandsons  inherited  their 
vigor  and  their  striving.  It  is  not  at  all  singular 
that  every  President  of  the  United  States  and  every 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  has 
come  from  this  stock,  nor  that  the  vast  majority 
of  Cabinet  members,  of  distinguished  Senators,  of 
Speakers  of  the  House,  and  of  men  of  note  in  the 
House  of  Representatives  trace  back  to  it  their  lin- 
eage in  whole  or  in  part.  After  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  immigrant  vote  began  to 
make  itself  felt,  and  politicians  contended  for  the 
"Irish  vote"  and  the  " German  vote'*  and  later  for 
the  "Italian  vote,"  the  "Jewish  vote,"  and  the 
"Norwegian  vote."  Members  of  the  immigrant 
races  began  to  appear  in  Washington,  and  the  new 
infusion  of  blood  made  itself  felt  in  the  political  life 
of  the  country. 

But,  if  material  were  available  for  a  compre- 
hensive analysis  of  American  leadership  in  life 
and  thought  today,  a  larger  number  of  names  of 


THE  AMERICAN  STOCK  43 

non-native  origin  would  no  doubt  appear  than  was 
disclosed  in  1891  by  Senator  Lodge's  analysis.  All 
the  learned  professions,  for  instance,  and  many 
lines  of  business  are  finding  their  numbers  swelled 
by  persons  of  foreign  parentage.  This  change  is 
to  be  expected.  The  influence  of  environment,  es- 
pecially of  free  education  and  unfettered  oppor- 
tunity, is  calling  forth  the  talents  of  the  children 
of  the  immigrants.  The  number  of  descendants 
from  the  American  stock  yearly  becomes  relatively 
less;  intermarriage  with  the  children  of  the  foreign 
born  is  increasingly  frequent.  Profound  changes 
have  taken  place  since  the  American  pioneers 
pushed  then*  way  across  the  Alleghanies;  changes 
infinitely  more  profound  have  taken  place  even 
since  the  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century  and  have 
put  to  the  test  of  Destiny  the  institutions  which 
are  called  "American." 

Nevertheless  in  a  large  sense  every  great  tradi- 
tion of  the  original  American  stock  lives  today:  the 
tradition  of  free  movement,  of  initiative  and  enter- 
prise; the  tradition  of  individual  responsibility;  the 
primary  traditions  of  democracy  and  liberty.  These 
give  a  virile  present  meaning  to  the  name  American. 
A  noted  French  journalist  received  this  impression 
of  a  group  of  soldiers  who  in  1918  were  bivouacked 


44  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

in  his  country:  "I  saw  yesterday  an  American 
unit  in  which  men  of  very  varied  origin  abounded 
—  French,  Polish,  Czech,  German,  English,  Cana- 
dian —  such  their  names  and  other  facts  revealed 
them.  Nevertheless,  all  were  of  the  same  or  simi- 
lar type,  a  fact  due  apparently  to  the  combined  in- 
fluences of  sun,  air,  primary  education,  and  environ- 
ment. And  one  was  not  long  in  discovering  that 
the  intelligence  of  each  and  all  had  manifestly  a 
wider  outlook  than  that  of  the  man  of  single  ra- 
cial lineage  and  of  one  country."  And  these  men 
were  Americans. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  NEGRO 

NOT  many  years  ago  a  traveler  was  lured  into  a 
London  music  hall  by  the  sign :  Spirited  American 
Singing  and  Dancing.  He  saw  on  the  stage  a  sex- 
tette of  black-faced  comedians,  singing  darky  rag- 
time 'to  the  accompaniment  of  banjo  and  bones, 
dancing  the  clog  and  the  cakewalk,  and  reciting 
negro  stories  with  the  familiar  accent  and  smile,  all 
to  the  evident  delight  of  the  audience.  The  man 
in  the  seat  next  to  him  remarked,  "These  Amer- 
icans are  really  lively. "  Not  only  in  England,  but 
on  the  continent,  the  negro's  melodies,  his  dialect, 
and  his  banjo,  have  always  been  identified  with 
America.  Even  Americans  do  not  at  once  think  of 
the  negro  as  a  foreigner,  so  accustomed  have  they 
become  to  his  presence,  to  his  quaint  mythology, 
his  soft  accent,  and  his  genial  and  accommodating 
nature.  He  was  to  be  found  in  every  colony  before 
the  Re  volution;  he  was  an  integral  part  of  American 

45 


46  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

economic  life  long  before  the  great  Irish  and 
German  immigrations,  and,  while  in  the  mass  he 
is  confined  to  the  South,  he  is  found  today  in  every 
State  in  the  Union. 

The  negro,  however,  is  racially  the  most  dis- 
tinctly foreign  element  in  America.  He  belongs 
to  a  period  of  biological  and  racial  evolution  far 
removed  from  that  of  the  white  man.  His  habi- 
tat is  the  continent  of  the  elephant  and  the  lion, 
the  mango  and  the  palm,  while  that  of  the  race  into 
whose  state  he  has  been  thrust  is  the  continent  of 
the  horse  and  the  cow,  of  wheat  and  the  oak. 

There  is  a  touch  of  the  dramatic  in  every  phase  of 
the  negro's  contact  with  America :  his  unwilling  com- 
ing, his  forcible  detention,  his  final  submission,  his 
emancipation,  his  struggle  to  adapt  himself  to  free- 
dom, his  futile  competition  with  a  superior  economic 
order.  Every  step  from  the  kidnaping,  through 
"the  voiceless  woe  of  servitude"  and  the  attempted 
redemption  of  his  race,  has  been  accompanied  by 
tragedy.  How  else  could  it  be  when  peoples  of  two 
such  diverse  epochs  in  racial  evolution  meet? 

His  coming  was  almost  contemporaneous  with 
that  of  the  white  man.  "American  slavery," 
says  Charming,1  "began  with  Columbus,  possibly 

1  Hittory  of  the  United  States,  vol.  I.  p.  116. 


THE  NEGRO  47 

because  he  was  the  first  European  who  had  a  chance 
to  introduce  it:  and  negroes  were  brought  to  the 
New  World  at  the  suggestion  of  the  saintly  Las 
Casas  to  alleviate  the  lot  of  the  unhappy  and 
fast  disappearing  red  man."  They  were  first  em- 
ployed as  body  servants  and  were  used  extensively 
in  the  West  Indies  before  their  common  use  in  the 
colonies  on  the  continent.  In  the  first  plantations 
of  Virginia  a  few  of  them  were  found  as  laborers. 
In  1619  what  was  probably  the  first  slave  ship 
on  that  coast  —  it  was  euphemistically  called  a 
"Dutch  man-of-war"  —  landed  its  human  cargo 
in  Virginia.  From  this  time  onward  the  numbers 
of  African  slaves  steadily  increased.  Bancroft  es- 
timated their  number  at  59,000  in  1714,  78,000  in 
1727,  and  263,000  in  1754.  The  census  of  1790  re- 
corded 697,624  slaves  in  the  United  States.  This 
almost  incredible  increase  was  not  due  alone  to 
the  fecundity  of  the  negro.  It  was  due,  in  large 
measure,  to  the  unceasing  slave  trade. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  more  severe  ordeals  than 
the  negroes  endured  in  the  day  of  the  slave  trade. 
Their  captors  in  the  jungles  of  Africa  —  usually 
neighboring  tribesmen  in  whom  the  instinct  for 
capture,  enslavement,  and  destruction  was  untamed 
—  soon  learned  that  the  aged,  the  inferior,  the 


48  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

defective,  were  not  wanted  by  the  trader.  These 
were  usually  slaughtered.  Then  followed  for  the  less 
fortunate  the  long  and  agonizing  march  to  the  sea- 
board. Every  one  not  robust  enough  to  endure  the 
arduous  journey  was  allowed  to  perish  by  the  way. 
On  the  coast,  the  agent  of  the  trader  or  the  middle- 
man awaited  the  captive.  He  was  an  expert  at  de- 
tecting those  evidences  of  weakness  and  disease 
which  had  eluded  the  eye  of  the  captor  or  the  rigor 
of  the  march.  "An  African  factor  of  fair  repute," 
said  a  slave  captain,1  "is  ever  careful  to  select  his 
human  cargo  with  consummate  prudence,  so  as  not 
only  to  supply  his  employers  with  athletic  laborers, 
but  to  avoid  any  taint  of  disease. "  B  ut  the  severest 
test  of  all  was  the  hideous  "middle  passage"  which 
remained  to  every  imported  slave  a  nightmare  to 
the  day  of  his  death.  The  unhappy  captives  were 
crowded  into  dark,  unventilated  holds  and  were 
fed  scantily  on  food  which  was  strange  to  their  lips; 
they  were  unable  to  understand  the  tongue  of  their 
masters  and  often  unable  to  understand  the  dia- 
lects of  their  companions  in  misfortune;  they  were 
depressed  with  their  helplessness  on  the  limitless 
sea,  and  their  childish  superstitions  were  fed  by  a 

1  Captain  Canot:  or  Twenty  Yeart  in  a  Slaver,  by  Brantz  Mayer, 
p.  94  ff. 


THE  NEGRO  49 

thousand  new  terrors  and  emotions.  It  was  small 
wonder  that,  when  disease  began  its  ravages  in  the 
shipload  of  these  kidnaped  beings,  "the  mortality 
of  thirty  per  cent  was  not  rare. "  That  this  was 
primarily  a  physical  selection  which  made  no  allow- 
ance for  mental  aptitudes  did  not  greatly  diminish 
in  the  eyes  of  the  master  the  slave's  utility.  The 
new  continent  needed  muscle  power;  and  so  tens  of 
thousands  of  able-bodied  Africans  were  landed  on 
American  soil,  alien  to  everything  they  found  there. 
These  slaves  were  kidnaped  from  many  tribes. 
"In  our  negro  population,"  says  Tillinghast,  "as 
it  came  from  the  Western  Coast  of  Africa,  there 
were  Wolofs  and  Fulans,  tall,  well-built,  and  very 
black,  hailing  from  Senegambia  and  its  vicinity; 
there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  from  the  Slave 
Coast  —  Tshis,  Ewes,  and  Yorubans,  including 
Dahomians;  and  mingled  with  all  these  Soudanese 
negroes  proper  were  occasional  contributions  of 
mixed  stock,  from  the  north  and  northeast,  having 
an  infusion  of  Moorish  blood.  There  were  other 
thousands  from  Lower  Guinea,  belonging  to  Bantu 
stock,  not  so  black  in  color  as  the  Soudanese,  and 
thought  by  some  to  be  slightly  superior  to  them.  "* 
No  historian  has  recorded  these  tribal  differences. 

1  The  Negro  in  Africa  and  America,  p.  118. 
4 


50  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  new  environment,  so  strange,  so  ruthless, 
swallowed  them;  and,  in  the  welter  of  their  toil,  the 
black  men  became  so  intermingled  that  all  tribal 
distinctions  soon  vanished.  Here  and  there,  how- 
ever, a  careful  observer  may  still  find  among  them 
a  man  of  superior  mien  or  a  woman  of  haughty  de- 
meanor denoting  perhaps  an  ancestral  prince  or 
princess  who  once  exercised  authority  over  some 
African  jungle  village. 

Slavery  was  soon  a  recognized  institution  in 
every  American  colony.  By  1665  every  colony 
had  its  slave  code.  In  Virginia  the  laws  became 
increasingly  strict  until  the  dominion  of  the  master 
over  his  slaves  was  virtually  absolute.  In  South 
Carolina  an  insurrection  of  slaves  in  1739,  which 
cost  the  lives  of  twenty-one  whites  and  forty-four 
blacks,  led  to  very  drastic  laws.  Of  the  Northern 
colonies,  New  York  seems  to  have  been  most  in  fear 
of  a  black  peril.  In  1700  there  were  about  six  thou- 
sand slaves  in  this  colony,  chiefly  in  the  city,  where 
there  were  also  many  free  negroes,  and  on  the  large 
estates  along  the  Hudson.  Twice  the  white  people 
of  the  city  for  reasons  that  have  not  been  preserved, 
believing  that  slave  insurrections  were  imminent, 
resorted  to  extreme  and  brutal  measures.  In  1712 
they  burned  to  death  two  negroes,  hanged  in  chains 


THE  NEGRO  51 

a  third,  and  condemned  a  fourth  to  be  broken  on  the 
wheel.  In  1741  they  went  so  far  as  to  burn  fourteen 
negroes,  hang  eighteen,  and  transport  seventy-one. 

In  New  England  where  their  numbers  were  rel- 
atively small  and  the  laws  were  less  severe,  the 
negroes  were  employed  chiefly  in  domestic  service. 
In  Quaker  Pennsylvania  there  were  many  slaves, 
the  proprietor  himself  being  a  slave  owner.  Ten 
years  after  the  founding  of  Philadelphia,  the  au- 
thorities ordered  the  constables  to  arrest  all  ne- 
groes found  "gadding  about"  on  Sunday  without 
proper  permission.  They  were  to  remain  in  jail 
until  Monday,  receiving  in  lieu  of  meat  or  drink 
thirty-nine  lashes  on  the  bare  back. 

Protests  against  slavery  were  not  uncommon 
during  the  colonial  period;  and  before  the  Revolu- 
tion was  accomplished  several  of  the  States  had 
emancipated  their  slaves.  Vermont  led  the  way  in 
1777;  the  Ordinance  of  1787  forbade  slavery  in  the 
Northwest  Territory;  and  by  1804  all  the  Northern 
States  had  provided  that  their  blacks  should  be 
set  free.  The  opinion  prevailed  that  slavery  was 
on  the  road  to  gradual  extinction.  In  the  Federal 
Convention  of  1787  this  belief  was  crystallized  into 
the  clause  making  possible  the  prohibition  of  the 
slave  trade  after  the  year  1808.  Mutual  benefit 


52  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

organizations  among  the  negroes,  both  slave  and 
free,  appeared  in  many  States,  North  and  South. 
Negro  congregations  were  organized.  The  num- 
ber of  free  negroes  increased  rapidly,  and  in  the 
Northern  States  they  acquired  such  civil  rights  as 
industry,  thrift,  and  integrity  commanded.  Here 
and  there  colored  persons  of  unusual  gifts  distin- 
guished themselves  in  various  callings  and  were 
even  occasionally  entertained  in  white  households. 
The  industrial  revolution  in  England,  with  its 
spinning  jenny  and  power  loom,  indirectly  influ- 
enced the  position  of  the  negro  in  America.  The 
new  machinery  had  an  insatiable  maw  for  cotton. 
It  could  turn  such  enormous  quantities  of  raw  fiber 
into  cloth  that  the  old  rate  of  producing  cotton  was 
entirely  inadequate.  New  areas  had  to  be  placed 
under  cultivation.  The  South,  where  soil  and  cli- 
mate combined  to  make  an  ideal  cotton  land,  came 
into  its  own.  And  when  Eli  Whitney's  gin  was 
perfected,  cotton  was  crowned  king.  Statistics  tell 
the  story:  the  South  produced  about  8000  bales 
of  cotton  in  1790;  650,000  bales  in  1820;  2,469,093 
bales  in  1850;  5,387,052  bales  in  1860. '  This  vast 


i  Coman,  Industrial  History  of  the  United  State*,  p.  238.  Bogart 
gives  the  figures  as  1,976,000  bales  in  1840,  and  4.675,000  bales  in 
1860.  Economic  History  of  the  United  States,  p.  256. 


THE  NEGRO  53 

increase  in  production  called  for  human  muscle 
which  apparently  only  the  negro  could  supply. 

Once  it  was  shown  that  slavery  paid,  its  status 
became  fixed  as  adamant.  The  South  forthwith 
ceased  weakly  to  apologize  for  it,  as  it  had  formerly 
done,  and  began  to  defend  it,  at  first  with  some 
hesitation,  then  with  boldness,  and  finally  with  vehe- 
ment aggressiveness.  It  was  economically  neces- 
sary ;  it  was  morally  right ;  it  was  the  peculiar  South- 
ern domestic  institution ;  and,  above  all,  it  paid.  On 
every  basis  of  its  defense,  the  cotton  kingdom  would 
brook  no  interf erence  from  any  other  section  of  the 
country.  So  there  was  formed  a  race  feudality  in 
the  Republic,  rooted  in  profits,  protected  by  the 
political  power  of  the  slave  lords,  and  enveloped  in 
a  spirit  of  defiance  and  bitterness  which  reacted 
without  mercy  upon  its  victims.  Tighter  and 
tighter  were  drawn  the  coils  of  restrictions  around 
the  enslaved  race.  The  mind  and  the  soul  as  well 
as  the  body  were  placed  under  domination.  They 
might  marry  to  breed  but  not  to  make  homes. 
Such  charity  and  kindness  as  they  experienced,  they 
received  entirely  from  individual  humane  masters; 
society  treated  them  merely  as  chattels. 

Attempted  insurrections,  such  as  that  in  South 
Carolina  in  1822  and  that  in  Virginia  in  1831  in 


54  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

which  many  whites  and  blacks  were  killed,  only 
produced  harsher  laws  and  more  cruel  punishments, 
until  finally  the  slave  became  convinced  that  his 
only  salvation  lay  in  running  away.  The  North 
Star  was  his  beacon  light  of  freedom.  A  few  thou- 
sand made  their  way  southward  through  the  chain 
of  swamps  that  skirt  the  Atlantic  coast  and  min- 
gled with  the  Indians  in  Florida.  Tens  of  thou- 
sands made  their  way  northward  along  well  recog- 
nized routes  to  the  free  States  and  to  Canada:  the 
Appalachian  ranges  with  their  far-spreading  spurs 
furnished  the  friendliest  of  these  highways;  the 
Mississippi  Valley  with  its  marshlands,  forests,  and 
swamps  provided  less  secure  hiding  places;  and  the 
Cumberland  Mountains,  well  supplied  with  lime- 
stone caves,  offered  a  third  pathway.  At  the  north- 
ern end  of  these  routes  the  "Underground  Rail- 
way"1 received  the  fugitives.  From  the  Cumber- 
lands,  leading  through  the  heart  of  Tennessee 
and  Kentucky,  this  benevolent  transfer  stretched 
through  Ohio  and  Indiana  to  Canada;  from  south- 
ern Illinois  it  led  northward  through  Wisconsin; 
and  from  the  Appalachian  route  mysterious  byways 
led  through  New  York  and  New  England. 

1  See  The  Anti-Slavery  Crutade,  by  Jesse  Macy  (in  The  Chronicle* 
of  America),  Chapter  vm. 


THE  NEGRO  55 

How  many  thus  escaped  cannot  be  reckoned,  but 
it  is  known  that  the  number  of  free  negroes  in  the 
North  increased  so  rapidly  that  laws  discriminating 
against  them  were  passed  in  many  States.  No- 
where did  the  negro  enjoy  all  the  rights  that  the 
white  man  had.  In  some  States  the  free  negroes 
were  so  restricted  in  settling  as  to  be  virtually  pro- 
hibited; in  others  they  were  disfranchised;  hi  others 
they  were  denied  the  right  of  jury  duty  or  of  testify- 
ing in  court.  But  in  spite  of  this  discrimination  on 
the  part  of  the  law,  a  great  sympathy  for  the  runa- 
way slave  spread  among  the  people,  and  the  fugitive 
carried  into  the  heart  of  the  North  the  venom  of 
the  institution  of  which  he  was  the  unhappy  victim. 

Meanwhile  the  slave  trade  responded  promptly 
to  the  lure  of  gain  which  the  increased  demand  for 
cotton  held  out.  The  law  of  1807  prohibiting  the 
importation  of  slaves  had,  from  the  date  of  its 
enactment,  been  virtually  a  dead  letter.  Messages 
of  Presidents,  complaints  of  government  attorneys, 
of  collectors  and  agents  called  attention  to  the  con- 
tinuous violation  of  the  law;  and  its  nullity  was  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge.  When  the  market 
price  of  a  slave  rose  to  $325  in  1840  and  to  $500  after 
1850,  the  increase  in  profits  made  slave  piracy  a 
rather  respectable  business  carried  on  by  American 


56  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

citizens  in  American  built  ships  flying  the  American 
flag  and  paying  high  returns  on  New  York  and  New 
England  capital.  Owing  to  this  steady  importation 
there  was  a  constant  intermingling  of  raw  stock 
from  the  jungles  with  the  negroes  who  had  been 
slaves  in  America  for  several  generations. 

In  1860  there  were  4,441,830  negroes  in  the 
United  States,  of  whom  only  488,070  were  free. 
About  thirteen  per  cent  of  the  total  number  were 
mulattoes.  Among  the  four  million  slaves  were  men 
and  women  of  every  gradation  of  experience  with 
civilization,  from  those  who  had  just  disembarked 
from  slave  ships  to  those  whose  ancestry  could  be 
traced  to  the  earliest  days  of  the  colonies.  It  was 
not,  therefore,  a  strictly  homogeneous  people  upon 
whom  were  suddenly  and  dramatically  laid  the  bur- 
dens and  responsibilities  of  the  freedman.  Among 
the  emancipated  blacks  were  not  a  few  in  whom 
there  still  throbbed  vigorously  the  savage  life  they 
had  but  recently  left  behind  and  who  could  not 
yet  speak  intelligible  English.  Though  there  were 
many  who  were  skilled  in  household  arts  and  in  the 
useful  customary  handicrafts,  large  numbers  were 
acquainted  only  with  the  simplest  toil  of  the  open 
fields.  There  were  a  few  free  blacks  who  possessed 
property,  in  some  instances  to  the  value  of  many 


THE  NEGRO  5T 

thousands  of  dollars,  but  the  great  bulk  were  whol- 
ly inexperienced  in  the  responsibilities  of  ownership. 
There  were  some  who  had  mastered  the  rudiments 
of  learning  and  here  and  there  was  to  be  found  a 
gifted  mind,  but  ninety  per  cent  of  the  negroes  were 
unacquainted  with  letters  and  were  strangers  to 
even  the  most  rudimentary  learning.  Their  reli- 
gion was  a  picturesque  blend  of  Christian  precepts 
and  Voodoo  customs. 

The  Freedmen's  Bureau,  authorized  by  Congress 
early  in  1865,  had  as  its  functions  to  aid  the  negro 
to  develop  self-control  and  self-reliance,  to  help  the 
freedman  with  his  new  wage  contracts,  to  befriend 
him  when  he  appeared  in  court,  and  to  provide  for 
him  schools  and  hospitals.  It  was  a  simple,  slen- 
der reed  for  the  race  to  lean  upon  until  it  learned  to 
walk.  But  it  interfered  with  the  orthodox  opinion 
of  that  day  regarding  individual  independence  and 
was  limited  to  the  period  of  war  and  one  year  there- 
after. It  was  eyed  with  suspicion  and  was  regarded 
with  criticism  by  both  the  keepers  of  the  laissez 
faire  faith  and  the  former  slave  owners.  It  estab- 
lished a  number  of  schools  and  made  a  modest  be- 
ginning in  peasant  proprietorship  and  free  labor.1 

1  See  The  Sequel  of  Appomattox.  by  Walter  L.  Fleming  (in  The 
Chronicles  of  America),  Chapter  IV. 


58  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

When  this  temporary  guide  was  withdrawn,  pri- 
vate organizations  to  some  extent  took  its  place. 
The  American  Missionary  Association  continued 
the  educational  work,  and  volunteers  shouldered 
other  benevolences.  But  no  power  and  no  organ- 
ization could  take  the  place  of  the  national  author- 
ity. If  the  Freedmen's  Bureau  could  have  been 
stripped  of  those  evil-intentioned  persons  who  used 
it  for  private  gain,  been  so  organized  as  to  enlist 
the  support  of  the  Southern  white  population,  and 
been  continued  until  a  new  generation  of  blacks 
were  prepared  for  civil  life,  the  colossal  blunders 
and  criminal  misfits  of  that  bitter  period  of  tran- 
sition might  have  been  avoided.  But  political 
opportunism  spurned  comprehensive  plans,  and 
the  negro  suddenly  found  himself  forced  into 
social,  political,  and  economic  competition  with 
the  white  man. 

The  social  and  political  struggle  that  followed 
was  short-lived.  There  were  a  few  desperate 
years  under  the  domination  of  the  carpetbagger 
and  the  Ku  Klux  Klan,  a  period  of  physical  coer- 
cion and  intimidation.  Within  a  decade  the  negro 
vote  was  uncast  or  uncounted,  and  the  grandfather 
clauses  soon  completed  the  political  mastery  of  the 
former  slave  owner.  A  strict  interpretation  of  the 


THE  NEGRO  59 

Civil  Rights  Act  denied  the  application  of  the 
equality  clause  of  the  Constitution  to  social  equal- 
ity, and  the  social  as  well  as  the  political  separa- 
tion of  the  two  stocks  was  also  accomplished. 
"Jim  Crow,"  cars,  separate  accommodations  in 
depots  and  theaters,  separate  schools,  separate 
churches,  attempted  segregations  in  cities  —  these 
are  all  symbolic  of  two  separate  races  forcibly 
united  by  constitutional  amendments. 

But  the  economic  struggle  continued,  for  the 
black  man,  even  if  politically  emasculated  and  so- 
cially isolated,  had  somehow  to  earn  a  living.  In 
then*  first  reaction  of  anger  and  chagrin,  some  of 
the  whites  here  and  there  made  attempts  to  reduce 
freedmen  to  their  former  servitude,  but  their  efforts 
were  effectually  checked  by  the  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment. An  ingenious  peonage,  however,  was  cre- 
ated by  means  of  the  criminal  law.  Strict  statutes 
were  passed  by  States  on  guardianship,  vagrancy, 
and  petty  crimes.  It  was  not  difficult  to  bring 
charges  under  these  statutes,  and  the  heavy  penal- 
ties attached,  together  with  the  wide  discretion 
permitted  to  judge  and  jury,  made  it  easy  to  sub- 
ject the  culprit  to  virtual  serfdom  for  a  term  of 
years.  He  would  be  leased  to  some  contractor, 
who  would  pay  for  his  keep  and  would  profit  by  his 


60  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

toil.  Whatever  justification  there  may  have  been 
for  these  statutes,  the  convict  lease  system  soon  fell 
into  disrepute,  and  it  has  been  generally  abandoned. 
It  was  upon  the  land  that  the  freedman  natu- 
rally sought  his  economic  salvation.  He  was  ex- 
perienced in  cotton  growing.  But  he  had  neither 
acres  nor  capital.  These  he  had  to  find  and  turn  to 
his  own  uses  ere  he  could  really  be  economically 
free.  So  he  began  as  a  farm  laborer,  passed  through 
various  stages  of  tenantry,  and  finally  graduated 
into  land  ownership.  One  finds  today  examples  of 
every  stage  of  this  evolution.1  There  is  first  the 
farm  laborer,  receiving  at  the  end  of  the  year  a 
fixed  wage.  He  is  often  supplied  with  house  and 
garden  and  usually  with  food  and  clothing.  There 
are  many  variations  of  this  labor  contract.  The 
"cropper"  is  barely  a  step  advanced  above  the 
laborer,  for  he,  too,  furnishes  nothing  but  labor, 
while  the  landlord  supplies  house,  tools,  live  stock, 
and  seed.  His  wage,  however,  is  paid  not  in  cash 
but  in  a  stipulated  share  of  the  crop.  From  this 
share  he  must  pay  for  the  supplies  received  and 
interest  thereon.  This  method,  however,  has 
proved  to  be  a  mutually  unsatisfactory  arrangement 

'  See  The  New  South  by  Holland  Thompson  (in  The  Chronicle*  of 
America),  Chapters  iv  and  vn. 


THE  NEGRO  61 

and  is  usually  limited  to  hard  pressed  owners  of 
poor  land. 

The  larger  number  of  the  negro  farmers  are  ten- 
ants on  shares  or  metayers.  They  work  the  land 
on  their  own  responsibility,  and  this  degree  of  inde- 
pendence appeals  to  them.  They  pay  a  stipulated 
portion  of  the  crop  as  rent.  If  they  possess  some 
capital  and  the  rental  is  fair,  this  arrangement 
proves  satisfactory.  But  as  very  few  negro  metay- 
ers possess  the  needed  capital,  they  resort  to  a  sys- 
tem of  crop-lienage  under  which  a  local  retail  mer- 
chant advances  the  necessary  supplies  and  obtains 
a  mortgage  on  the  prospective  crop.  Many  negro 
farmers,  however,  have  achieved  the  independence 
of  cash  renters,  assuming  complete  control  of  their 
crops  and  the  disposition  of  their  time.  And  finally, 
241,000  negro  farmers  are  landowners. x  By  1910 
nearly  900,000  negroes  had  achieved  some  degree 
of  rural  economic  stability. 

The  negro  has  not  been  so  fortunate  in  his  at- 
tempts to  make  a  place  for  himself  in  the  industrial 
world.  The  drift  to  the  cities  began  soon  after 
emancipation.  During  the  first  decade,  the  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  landlordism  which  then  pre- 
vailed, seconded  by  the  demand  for  unskilled  labor 

1  Negroes  in  the  United  States,  Census  Bulletin  No.  128,  p.  37. 


62  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

in  the  rapidly  growing  cities,  drew  the  negroes  from 
the  land  in  such  considerable  numbers  that  the 
landowners  were  induced  to  make  more  liberal 
terms  to  keep  the  laborers  on  their  farms.  While 
there  has  been  a  large  increase  in  the  number  of  ne- 
groes engaged  in  agriculture,  there  has  at  the  same 
tune  been  a  very  marked  current  from  the  smaller 
communities  to  the  new  industrial  cities  of  the 
South  and  to  some  of  the  manuf acturing  centers  of 
the  North.  In  recent  years  there  have  been  whole- 
sale importations  of  negro  laborers  into  many 
Northern  cities  and  towns,  sometimes  as  strike 
breakers  but  more  frequently  to  supply  the  urgent 
demand  for  unskilled  labor.  Many  of  the  smaller 
manufacturing  towns  of  New  York,  Ohio,  Penn- 
sylvania, Illinois,  and  Indiana  are  accumulating 
a  negro  population. 

Very  few  of  these  industrial  negroes,  however, 
are  skilled  workers.  They  toil  rather  as  ordinary 
day  laborers,  porters,  stevedores,  teamsters,  and 
domestics.  There  has  been  a  great  deal  written 
of  the  decline  of  the  negro  artisan.  Walter  F.  Wil- 
cox,  the  eminent  statistician,  after  a  careful  study 
of  the  facts  concludes  that  economically  "the  negro 
as  a  race  is  losing  ground,  is  being  confined  more 
and  more  to  the  inferior  and  less  remunerative 


THE  NEGRO  63 

occupations,  and  is  not  sharing  proportionately  to 
his  numbers  in  the  prosperity  of  the  country  as  a 
whole  or  of  the  section  in  which  he  mainly  lives. " 
It  appears,  therefore,  that  the  pathway  of  eman- 
cipation has  not  led  the  negro  out  of  the  ranks  of 
humble  toil  and  into  racial  equality.  In  order  to 
equip  him  more  effectively  for  a  place  in  the  world, 
industrial  schools  have  been  established,  among 
which  the  most  noted  is  the  Tuskegee  Institute. 
Its  founder,  Booker  T.  Washington,  advised  his  fel- 
low negroes  to  yield  quietly  to  the  political  and  so- 
cial distinctions  raised  against  them  and  to  perfect 
themselves  in  handicrafts  and  the  mechanic  arts, 
in  the  faith  that  civil  rights  would  ultimately  follow 
economic  power  and  recognized  industrial  capacity. 
His  teaching  received  the  almost  unanimous  ap- 
proval of  both  North  and  South.  But  opinion 
among  his  own  people  was  divided,  and  in  1905  the 
"Niagara  Movement"  was  launched,  followed  five 
years  later  by  the  organizing  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Advancement  of  Colored  People. 
This  organization  advised  a  more  aggressive  atti- 
tude towards  race  distinctions,  outspokenly  advo- 
cated race  equality,  demanded  the  negro's  rights, 
and  maintained  a  restless  propaganda.  These 
champions  of  the  race  possibilities  of  the  negro 


64  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

point  to  the  material  advance  made  since  slavery; 
to  the  500,000  houses  and  the  221,000  farms  owned 
by  them;  their  22,000  small  retail  businesses  and 
their  40  banks;  to  the  40,000  churches  with  nearly 
4,000,000  members;  to  the  200  colleges  and  second- 
ary schools  maintained  for  negroes  and  largely  sup- 
ported by  them;  to  their  100  old  people's  homes, 
30 hospitals,  300  periodicals;  to  the  6000  physicians, 
dentists,  and  nurses;  the  30,000  teachers,  the  18,000 
clergymen.  They  point  to  the  beacon  lights  of 
their  genius:  Frederick  Douglass,  statesman;  J.  C. 
Price,  orator;  Booker  T.  Washington,  educator; 
W.  E.  B.  DuBois,  scholar;  Paul  Laurence  Dunbar, 
poet;  Charles  W.  Chestnutt,  novelist.  And  they 
compare  this  record  of  50  years'  achievement  with 
the  preceding  245  years  of  slavery. 

This,  however,  is  only  one  side  of  the  shield. 
There  is  another  side,  nowhere  better  illustrated, 
perhaps,  than  in  the  neglected  negro  gardens  of  the 
South.  Near  every  negro  hut  is  a  garden  patch 
large  enough  to  supply  the  family  with  vegetables 
for  the  entire  year,  but  it  usually  is  neglected.  "  If 
they  have  any  garden  at  all, "  says  a  negro  critic 
from  Tuskegee,  "it  is  apt  to  be  choked  with  weeds 
and  other  noxious  growths.  With  every  advan- 
tage of  soil  and  climate  and  with  a  steady  market  if 


THE  NEGRO  65 

they  live  near  any  city  or  large  town,  few  of  the  col- 
ored farmers  get  any  benefit  from  this,  one  of  the 
most  profitable  of  all  industries. "  In  marked  con- 
trast to  these  wild  and  unkempt  patches  are  the 
gardens  of  the  Italians  who  have  recently  invaded 
portions  of  the  South  and  whose  garden  patches  are 
almost  miraculously  productive.  And  this  inva- 
sion brings  a  real  threat  to  the  future  of  the  negro. 
His  happy-go-lucky  ways,  his  easy  philosophy  of 
life,  the  remarkable  ease  with  which  he  severs  home 
ties  and  shifts  from  place  to  place,  his  indifference 
to  property  obligations  —  these  negative  defects  in 
his  character  may  easily  lead  to  his  economic  doom 
if  the  vigorous  peasantry  of  Italy  and  other  lands 
are  brought  into  competition  with  him. 


CHAPTER   IV 

UTOPIAS   IN    AMERICA 

AMERICA  has  long  been  a  gigantic  Utopia.  To 
every  immigrant  since  the  founding  of  Jamestown 
this  coast  has  gleamed  upon  the  horizon  as  a  Prom- 
ised Land.  America,  too,  has  provided  convenient 
plots  of  ground,  as  laboratories  for  all  sorts  of  va- 
garies, where,  unhampered  by  restrictions  and  un- 
annoyed  by  inquisitive  neighbors,  enthusiastic 
dreamers  could  attempt  to  reconstruct  society. 
Whenever  an  eccentric  in  Europe  conceived  a  social 
panacea  no  matter  how  absurd,  he  said,  "  Let's  go 
to  America  and  try  it  out. "  There  were  so  many 
of  these  enterprises  that  then-  exact  number  is  un- 
known. Many  of  them  perished  in  so  brief  a  time 
that  no  friendly  chronicler  has  even  saved  their 
names  from  oblivion.  But  others  lived,  some  for  a 
year,  some  for  a  decade,  and  few  for  more  than  a 
generation.  They  are  of  interest  today  not  only 
because  they  brought  a  considerable  number  of 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  67 

foreigners  to  America,  but  also  because  in  their 
history  may  be  observed  many  of  the  principles 
.of  communism,  or  socialism,  at  work  under  favor- 
able conditions.  While  the  theory  of  Marxian  so- 
cialism differs  in  certain  details  from  these  com- 
munistic experiments,  the  foreign-made  nostrums 
so  brazenly  proclaimed  today  wherever  malcon- 
tents are  gathered  together  is  in  essence  nothing 
new  in  America.  Communism  was  tried  and  found 
wanting  by  the  Pilgrim  Fathers;  since  then  it  has 
been  tried  and  found  wanting  over  and  over  again. 
Some  of  the  communistic  colonies,  it  will  appear, 
waxed  fat  out  of  the  resources  of  their  lands;  but, 
in  the  end,  even  those  which  were  most  fortunate 
and  successful  withered  away,  and  their  remnants 
were  absorbed  by  the  great  competitive  life  that 
surrounded  them. 

There  were  two  general  types  of  these  communi- 
ties, the  sectarian  and  the  economic.  Frequently 
they  combined  a  peculiar  religious  belief  with  the 
economic  practice  of  having  everything  in  common. 
The  sectarians  professed  to  be  neither  proselyters 
nor  propagandists  but  religious  devotees,  accepting 
communism  as  a  physical  advantage  as  well  as  a 
spiritual  balm,  and  seeking  in  seclusion  and  quiet 
merely  to  save  their  own  souls. 


68  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  majority  of  the  religious  communists  came 
from  Germany  —  the  home,  also,  of  Marxian  so- 
cialism in  later  years  —  where  persecution  was  the 
lot  of  innumerable  little  sects  which  budded  after 
the  Reformation.  They  came  usually  as  whole 
colonies,  bringing  both  leaders  and  membership 
with  them.1  Probably  the  earliest  to  arrive  in 
America  were  the  Labadists,  who  denied  the  doc- 
trine of  original  sin,  discarded  the  Sabbath,  and 
held  strict  views  of  marriage.  In  1684,  under  the 
leadership  of  Peter  Sluyter  or  Schluter  (an  assumed 
name,  his  original  name  being  Vorstmann),  some 
of  these  Labadists  settled  on  the  Bohemia  River  in 
Delaware.  They  were  sent  out  from  the  mother 
colony  in  West  Friesland  to  select  a  site  for  the  en- 
tire body,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  any  others 
migrated,  for  within  fifteen  years  the  American 

1  As  is  usual  among  people  who  pride  themselves  on  their  pecu- 
liarities there  were  variations  of  opinion  among  these  sects  which 
led  to  schisms.  The  Mennonites  contained  at  one  time  no  less 
than  eleven  distinct  branches,  among  them  the  Amiah,  Old  and 
New,  whose  ridiculous  singularity  of  dress,  in  which  they  dis- 
carded all  ornaments  and  even  buttons,  earned  them  the  nick- 
name "  Hooks  and  Eyes."  But  no  matter  how  aloof  these  sects 
held  themselves  from  the  world,  or  what  asceticism  they  prac- 
ticed upon  themselves,  or  what  spiritual  and  economic  fraternity 
they  displayed  to  each  other,  they  possessed  a  remarkable  native 
cunning  in  bargaining  over  a  bushel  of  wheat  or  a  shoal,  and  for  a 
time  most  of  their  communities  prospered. 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  69 

colony  was  reduced  to  eight  men.  Sluyter  evi- 
dently had  considerable  business  capacity,  for  he  be- 
came a  wealthy  tobacco  planter  and  slave  trader. 
In  1693  Johann  Jacob  Zimmermann,  a  distin- 
guished mathematician  and  astronomer  and  the 
founder  of  an  order  of  mystics  called  Pietists, 
started  for  America,  to  await  the  coming  of  the 
millennium,  which  his  calculations  placed  in  the 
autumn  of  1694.  But  the  fate  of  common  mortals 
overtook  the  unfortunate  leader  and  he  died  just  as 
he  was  ready  to  sail  from  Rotterdam.  About  forty 
members  of  his  brotherhood  settled  in  the  forests  on 
the  heights  near  Germantown,  Pennsylvania,  and, 
under  the  guidance  of  Johann  Kelpius,  achieved 
a  unique  influence  over  the  German  peasantry 
hi  that  vicinity.  The  members  of  the  brother- 
hood made  themselves  useful  as  teachers  and  in 
various  handicrafts.  They  were  especially  in  de- 
mand among  the  superstitious  for  their  skill  in  cast- 
ing horoscopes,  using  divining  rods,  and  carving  po- 
tent amulets.  Their  mysterious  astronomical  tow- 
er on  the  heights  of  the  Wissahickon  was  the  Mecca 
of  the  curious  and  the  distressed.  To  the  gentle 
Kelpius  was  ascribed  the  power  of  healing,  but 
he  was  himself  the  victim  of  consumption.  The 
brotherhood  did  not  long  survive  his  death  in  1708 


70  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

or  1709.  Their  astrological  instruments  may  now 
be  seen  in  the  collections  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Philosophical  Society. 

The  first  group  of  Dunkards  (a  name  derived 
from  their  method  of  baptism,  eintunken,  to  im- 
merse) settled  in  Pennsylvania  in  1719.  A  few 
years  later  they  were  joined  by  Conrad  Beissel 
(Beizel  or  Peysel).  This  man  had  come  to  Amer- 
ica to  unite  with  the  Pietist  group  in  Germantown, 
but,  as  Kelpius  was  dead  and  his  followers  dispersed 
he  joined  the  Dunkards.  His  desires  for  a  monas- 
tic life  drove  him  into  solitary  meditation  —  tradi- 
tion says  he  took  shelter  in  a  cave  —  where  he 
came  to  the  conviction  that  the  seventh  day  of  the 
week  should  be  observed  as  the  day  of  rest.  This 
conclusion  led  to  friction  with  the  Dunkards;  and 
as  a  result,  with  three  men  and  two  women,  Beissel 
founded  in  1728  on  the  Cocalico  River,  the  cloister 
of  Ephrata.  From  this  arose  the  first  communis- 
tic Eden  successfully  established  in  America  and 
one  of  the  few  to  survive  to  the  present  century. 
Though  in  1900  the  community  numbered  only 
seventeen  members,  in  its  prime  while  Beissel  was 
yet  alive  it  sheltered  three  hundred,  owned  a  pros- 
perous paper  mill,  a  grist  mill,  an  oil  mill,  a  fulling 
mill,  a  printing  press,  a  schoolhouse,  dwellings  for 


ENGLISH  FAMILY  AT  ELLIS  ISLAND 


Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 


GREEK  CHILD 

Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Him- 

for  Special  Survey  Mission, 

American  Red  Cross,  and 

for  Pittsburgh  Survey. 


MAGYAR  BOY 

Photograph  by 
Lewis  W.  Hine. 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 

or  1709.  Their  astrological  lust  rumen  ts  may  now 
be  seen  in  the  collections  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Philosophical  Society. 

The  first  group  of  Dunfcc  iame  derived 

from  their  method  of  baptism,  nntunken,  to  im- 
merse)  mi£f  ft1*^  '""'•'  •*£  A  few 

years  later  trWJ?  •WdSrfj*1'  (>1    rad  Beissel 

(B-.  This  man  had  oome  to  Amer- 

ica to  unite  with  the  Pietist  group  in  Germantown, 
as  Kelpius  was  dead  and  his  followers  dispersed 
he  joined  the  Dunkards.  His  desires  for  a  monas- 
tic life  drove  him  into  solitary  meditation  —  tradi- 
tion says  he  took  shelter  in  a  cave  —  where  he 
came  to  the  conviction  that  the  seventh  day  of  the 

as  a  result,  with  three  men  and  two  women,  Brissri 

founded  in  17'£8on  th«* 

of  Ephrata.     From  this  arose 

"ea  and 
"£°1R»  to  sun 

-  •\o\J 

Diough  in  1900  the 


sever* twn  members,  in  its  pri^WwOflrBeissel  was 
sheltered  thre*-  hundred,  owned  a  pros- 
perous paper  mill,  a  grist  ro i H,  an  oil  mill,  a  fulling 
mill,  a  printing  press,  a  schoolhonse,  dwellings  for 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  71 

the  married  members,  and  large  dormitories  for  the 
celibates.  The  meeting-house  was  built  entirely 
without  metal,  following  literally  the  precedent  of 
Solomon,  who  built  his  temple  "so  that  there  was 
neither  hammer  nor  ax  nor  any  tool  of  iron  heard  in 
the  house  while  it  was  building."  Wooden  pegs 
took  the  place  of  nails,  and  the  laths  were  fastened 
laboriously  into  grooves.  Averse  to  riches,  Beis- 
sel's  people  refused  gifts  from  William  Penn,  King 
George  III,  and  other  prominent  personages.  The 
pious  Beissel  was  a  very  capable  leader,  with  a  pas- 
sion for  music  and  an  ardor  for  simplicity.  He 
instituted  among  the  unmarried  members  of  the 
community  a  celibate  order  embracing  both  sexes, 
and  he  reduced  the  communal  life  of  both  the  reli- 
gious and  secular  members  to  a  routine  of  piety  and 
labor.  The  society  was  known,  even  in  England, 
for  the  excellence  of  its  paper,  for  the  good  work- 
manship of  its  printing  press,  and  especially  for  the 
quality  of  its  music,  which  was  composed  largely  by 
Beissel.  His  chorals  were  among  the  first  com- 
posed and  sung  in  America.  His  school,  too,  was 
of  such  quality  that  it  drew  pupils  from  Balti- 
more and  Philadelphia.  After  his  death  hi  1786, 
in  his  seventy-second  year,  his  successor  tried  for 
twenty-eight  years  to  maintain  the  discipline  and 


72  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

distinction  of  the  order.  It  was  eventually  deemed 
prudent  to  incorporate  the  society  under  the  laws  of 
the  State  and  to  entrust  its  management  to  aboard 
of  trustees,  and  the  cloistered  life  of  the  community 
became  a  memory. 

A  community  patterned  after  Ephrata  was 
founded  in  1800  by  Peter  Lehman  at  Snow  Hill,  in 
Franklin  County,  Pennsylvania.  It  consisted  of 
some  forty  German  men  and  women  living  in  clois- 
ters but  relieving  the  monotony  of  their  toil  and  the 
rigor  of  their  piety  with  music.  As  in  Ephrata, 
there  was  a  twofold  membership,  the  consecrated 
and  the  secular.  The  entire  community,  however, 
vanished  after  the  death  of  its  founder. 

When  Beissel's  Ephrata  was  in  its  heyday,  the 
Moravians,  under  the  patronage  of  Count  Zinzen- 
dorf  of  Saxony,  established  in  1741  a  community 
on  the  Lehigh  River  in  Pennsylvania,  named  Beth- 
lehem in  token  of  their  humility.  The  colony  pro- 
vided living  and  working  quarters  for  both  the 
married  and  unmarried  members.  After  about 
twenty  years  of  experimenting,  the  communistic 
regimen  was  abandoned.  Bethlehem,  however, 
continued  to  thrive,  and  its  schools  and  its  music 
became  widely  known. 

The  story  of  the  Harmonists,  one  of  the  most  sue- 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  73 

cessful  of  all  the  communistic  colonies  is  even  more 
interesting.  The  founder,  Johann  Georg  Rapp,  had 
been  a  weaver  and  vine  gardener  in  the  little  village 
of  Iptingen  in  Wiirttemberg.  He  drew  upon  him- 
self and  his  followers  the  displeasure  of  the  Church 
by  teaching  that  religion  was  a  personal  matter  be- 
tween the  individual  and  his  God;  that  the  Bible, 
not  the  pronouncements  of  the  clergy,  should  be 
the  guide  to  the  true  faith,  and  that  the  ordinances 
of  the  Church  were  not  necessarily  the  ordinances 
of  God.  The  petty  persecutions  which  these  doc- 
trines brought  upon  him  and  his  fellow  separat- 
ists turned  them  towards  liberal  America.  In  1803 
Rapp  and  some  of  his  companions  crossed  the  sea 
and  selected  as  a  site  for  their  colony  five  thousand 
acres  of  land  in  Butler  County,  Pennsylvania. 
There  they  built  the  new  town  of  Harmony,  to 
which  came  about  six  hundred  persons,  all  told. 
On  February  15, 1805  they  organized  the  Harmony 
Society  and  signed  a  solemn  agreement  to  merge 
all  their  possessions  in  one  common  lot. l  Among 


1  Under  the  communal  contract,  which  was  later  upheld  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  members  agreed  to  merge 
their  properties  and  to  renounce  all  claims  for  services;  and  the 
community,  on  its  part,  agreed  to  support  the  members  and  to 
repay  without  interest,  to  any  one  desiring  to  withdraw,  the 
amount  he  had  put  into  the  common  fund. 


74  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

them  were  a  few  persons  of  education  and  property, 
but  most  of  them  were  sturdy,  thrifty  mechanics 
and  peasants,  who,  under  the  skillful  direction  of 
Father  Rapp,  soon  transformed  the  forest  into  a 
thriving  community.  After  a  soul  stirring  revival 
in  1807,  they  adopted  celibacy.  Those  who  were 
married  did  not  separate  but  lived  together  in  sol- 
emn self-restraint,  "treating  each  other  as  brother 
and  sister  in  Christ."1  Their  belief  that  the  sec- 
ond coming  of  the  Lord  was  imminent  no  doubt 
strengthened  their  resolution.  At  this  time,  also, 
the  men  all  agreed  to  forego  the  use  of  tobacco  —  no 
small  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  hard-working  laborers. 
The  region,  however,  was  unfavorable  to  the 
growth  of  the  grape,  which  was  the  favorite  Wiirt- 
temberg  crop.  In  1814  the  society  accordingly 
sold  the  communal  property  for  $100,000  and  re- 
moved to  a  site  on  the  Wabash  River,  in  Indiana, 
where,  under  the  magic  of  their  industry,  the  beau- 
tiful village  of  New  Harmony  arose  in  one  year,  and 
where  many  of  their  sturdy  buildings  still  remain 
a  testimony  to  their  honest  craftsmanship.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  two  pests  appeared  which 
they  had  not  foreseen.  Harassed  by  malaria  and 

1  Communistic  Societies  of  the  United  States,  by  Charles  Nord- 
hoff,  p.  73. 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  75 

meddlesome  neighbors,  Father  Rapp  a  third  time 
sought  a  new  Canaan.  In  1825  he  sold  the  entire 
site  to  Robert  Owen,  the  British  philanthropic  so- 
cialist, and  the  Harmonists  moved  back  to  Penn- 
sylvania. They  built  their  third  and  last  home  on 
the  Ohio,  about  twenty  miles  from  Pittsburgh,  and 
called  it  Economy  in  prophetic  token  of  the  wealth 
which  their  industry  and  shrewdness  would  soon 
bring  in. 

The  chaste  and  simple  beauty  of  this  village  was 
due  to  the  skill  and  good  taste  of  Friedrich  Rei- 
chert  Rapp,  an  architect  and  stone  cutter,  the 
adopted  son  of  Father  Rapp.  The  fine  proportions 
of  the  plain  buildings,  with  their  vines  festooned  be- 
tween the  upper  and  lower  windows,  the  quaint  and 
charming  gardens,  the  tantalizing  labyrinth  where 
visitors  lost  themselves  in  an  attempt  to  reach  the 
Summer  House  —  these  were  all  of  his  creation. 
Friedrich  Rapp  was  also  a  poet,  an  artist,  and  a 
musician.  He  gathered  a  worthy  collection  of 
paintings  and  a  museum  of  Indian  relics  and  ob- 
jects of  natural  history.  He  composed  many  of 
the  fine  hymns  which  impress  every  visitor  to 
Economy.  He  was  likewise  an  energetic  and  skill- 
ful business  man  and  represented  the  colony  in  its 
external  affairs  until  his  death  in  1834.  He  was 


76  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

elected  a  member  of  the  convention  that  framed 
the  first  constitution  of  Indiana,  and  later  he  was 
made  a  member  of  the  legislature.  Father  Rapp, 
who  possessed  rare  talents  as  an  organizer,  con- 
trolled the  internal  affairs  of  the  colony.  Those 
who  left  the  community  because  unwilling  to  abide 
its  discipline  often  pronounced  their  leader  a  nar- 
row autocrat.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
eminent  good  sense  and  gentleness  tempered  his 
judgments.  He  personally  led  the  community  in 
industry,  in  prayers,  and  in  faith,  until  1847,  when 
death  removed  him.  A  council  of  nine  elders 
elected  by  the  members  was  then  charged  with  the 
spiritual  guidance  of  the  community,  and  two  trus- 
tees were  appointed  to  administer  its  business  affairs. 
Economy  was  a  German  community  where  Ger- 
man was  spoken  and  German  customs  were  main- 
tained, although  every  one  also  spoke  English.  As 
there  were  but  few  accessions  to  the  community 
and  from  time  to  time  there  were  defections  and 
withdrawals,  the  membership  steadily  declined1; 

1  The  largest  membership  was  attained  in  1827,  when  522  were 
enrolled.  There  were  391  in  1836;  321  in  1846;  170  in  1864;  146 
in  1866;  70  in  1879;  34  in  1888;  37  in  1892;  10  in  1897;  8  in  1902, 
only  two  of  whom  were  men;  and  in  1903,  three  women  and  one 
man.  The  population  of  Economy,  however,  was  always  much 
larger  than  the  communal  membership. 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  77 

but  while  the  community  was  dwindling  in  mem- 
bership it  was  rapidly  increasing  in  wealth.  Oil 
and  coal  were  found  on  some  of  its  lands;  the  prod- 
ucts of  its  mills  and  looms,  of  its  wine  presses  and 
distilleries,  were  widely  and  favorably  known;  and 
its  outside  investments,  chiefly  in  manufactories 
and  railroads,  yielded  even  greater  returns.  These 
outside  interests,  indeed,  became  in  time  the  sole 
support  of  the  community  for,  as  the  membership 
fell  away,  the  local  industries  had  to  be  shut  down. 
Then  it  was  that  communistic  methods  of  doing 
business  became  inadequate  and  the  colony  ran  in- 
to difficulties.  An  expert  accountant  in  1892  dis- 
closed the  debts  of  the  community  to  be  about  one 
and  a  half  million  dollars.  But  the  outside  indus- 
trial enterprises  in  which  the  community  had  in- 
vested were  sound;  and  the  vast  debt  was  paid. 
The  society  remained  solvent,  with  a  huge  surplus, 
though  out  of  prosperity  not  of  its  own  making. 
When  the  lands  at  Economy  were  eventually  sold, 
about  eight  acres  were  reserved  to  the  few  survivors 
of  the  society,  including  the  Great  House  of  Father 
Rapp  and  its  attractive  garden,  with  the  use  of  the 
church  and  dwellings,  so  that  they  might  spend 
their  last  days  in  the  peaceful  surroundings  that 
had  brought  them  prosperity  and  happiness. 


78  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Lead  me,  Father,  out  of  harm 
To  the  quiet  Zoar  farm 
If  it  be  Thy  will. 

So  sang  another  group  of  simple  German  separat- 
ists, of  whom  some  three  hundred  came  to  America 
from  Wiirttemberg  in  1817,  under  the  leadership  of 
Joseph  Bimeler  (Baumeler)  and  built  the  village 
of  Zoar  in  Tuscarawas  County,  Ohio.  They  ac- 
quired five  thousand  acres  of  land  and  signed  ar- 
ticles of  association  in  April,  1819,  turning  all  their 
individual  property  and  all  their  future  earnings 
into  a  common  fund  to  be  managed  by  an  elected 
board  of  directors.  The  community  provided  its 
members  with  their  daily  necessities  and  two  suits 
of  clothes  a  year.  The  members  were  assigned  to 
various  trades  which  absorbed  all  their  time  and 
left  them  very  little  strength  for  amusement  or 
reading.  Their  one  recreation  was  singing.  The 
society  was  bound  to  celibacy  until  the  marriage 
of  Bimeler  to  his  housekeeper;  thereafter  marriage 
was  permitted  but  not  encouraged. 

In  1832  the  society  was  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  Ohio,  and  until  its  dissolution  it  was  man- 
aged as  a  corporation.  A  few  Germans  joined  the 
society.  No  American  ever  requested  admission. 
Joseph  Bimeler  was  elected  Agent  General  and 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  79 

thereby  became  the  chosen  as  well  as  the  natural 
leader  of  the  community.  Like  other  patriarchs 
of  that  epoch  who  led  their  following  into  the  wil- 
derness, he  was  a  man  of  some  education  and  many 
gifts.  He  was  the  spiritual  mentor;  but  his  piety, 
which  was  sincere  and  simple,  did  not  rob  him  of 
the  shrewdness  necessary  to  material  success.  His 
followers  were  loyally  devoted  to  him.  They  built 
for  him  the  largest  house  in  the  community,  a  fine 
colonial  manor  house,  where  he  dwelt  in  compara- 
tive luxury  and  reigned  as  their  "King."  When 
he  died  in  1853  he  had  seen  the  prosperity  of  his 
colony  reach  its  zenith.  It  remained  small.  Scarce- 
ly more  than  three  hundred  members  ever  dwelt  in 
the  village  which,  in  spite  of  its  profusion  of  vines 
and  flowers,  lacked  the  informal  quaintness  and 
originality  of  Rapp's  Economy.  The  Tuscarawas 
River  furnished  power  for  their  flour  mill,  whose 
products  were  widely  sought.  There  was  also  a 
woolen  mill,  a  planing  mill,  a  foundry,  and  a  ma- 
chine shop.  The  beer  made  by  the  community 
was  famous  all  the  country  round,  and  for  a  time 
its  pottery  and  tile  works  turned  out  interesting 
and  quaint  products.  But  one  by  one  these 
small  industries  succumbed  to  the  competition  of 
the  greater  world.  At  last  even  an  alien  brew 


80  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

supplanted  the  good  local  beer.  When  the  railroad 
tapped  the  village,  and  it  was  incorporated  (1884) 
and  assumed  an  official  worldliness  with  its  mayor 
and  councilmen,  it  lost  its  isolation,  summer  visi- 
tors flocked  in,  and  a  "calaboose"  was  needed  for 
the  benefit  of  the  sojourners ! 

The  third  generation  was  now  grown.  A  num- 
ber of  dissatisfied  members  had  left.  Many  of  the 
children  never  joined  the  society  but  found  work 
elsewhere.  A  great  deal  of  the  work  had  to  be 
done  by  hired  help.  Under  the  leadership  of  the 
younger  element  it  was  decided  in  1898  to  abandon 
communism.  Appraisers  and  surveyors  were  set 
to  work  to  parcel  out  the  property.  Each  of  the 
136  members  received  a  cash  dividend,  a  home  in 
the  village,  and  a  plot  of  land.  The  average  val- 
ue of  each  share,  which  was  in  the  neighborhood  of 
$1500,  was  not  a  large  return  for  three  generations 
of  communistic  experimentation.  But  these  had 
been,  after  allj  years  of  moderate  competence  and 
quiet  contentment,  and  if  they  took  their  toll  in 
the  coin  of  hope,  as  their  song  set  forth,  then  these 
simple  Wiirttembergers  were  fully  paid. 

The  Inspirationists  were  a  sect  that  made  many 
converts  in  Germany,  Holland,  and  Switzerland  in 
the  eighteenth  century.  They  believed  in  direct 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  81 

revelations  from  God  through  chosen  "instru- 
ments." In  1817,  a  new  leader  appeared  among 
them  in  the  person  of  Christian  Metz,  a  man  of 
great  personal  charm,  worldly  shrewdness,  and 
spiritual  fervor.  Allied  with  him  was  Barbara 
Heynemann,  a  simple  maid  without  education,  who 
learned  to  read  the  Scriptures  after  she  was  twenty- 
three  years  of  age.  Endowed  with  the  peculiar 
gift  of  "translation, "  she  was  cherished  by  the  sect 
as  an  instrument  of  God  for  revealing  His  will. 

To  this  pair  came  an  inspiration  to  lead  their 
harassed  followers  to  America.  In  1842  they  pur- 
chased the  Seneca  Indian  Reservation  near  Buffalo, 
New  York.  They  called  their  new  home  Ebenezer, 
and  in  1843  they  organized  the  Ebenezer  Society, 
under  a  constitution  which  pledged  them  to  com- 
munism. Over  eight  hundred  peasants  and  ar- 
tisans joined  the  colony,  and  their  industry  soon 
had  created  a  cluster  of  five  villages  with  mills, 
workshops,  schools,  and  dwellings.  But  they  were 
continually  annoyed  by  the  Indians  from  whom  they 
had  purchased  the  site  and  were  distracted  by  the 
rapidly  growing  city  of  Buffalo,  which  was  only 
five  miles  away! 

This  threat  of  worldliness  brought  a  revelation 
that  they  must  seek  greater  seclusion.  A  large  tract 


82  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

on  the  Iowa  River  was  purchased,  and  to  this  new 
site  the  population  was  gradually  transferred.  There 
they  built  Amana.  Within  a  radius  of  six  miles,  five 
subsidiary  villages  sprang  up,  each  one  laid  out  like 
a  German  dorf,  with  its  cluster  of  shops  and  mills, 
and  the  cottages  scattered  informally  on  the  main 
road.  When  the  railway  tapped  the  neighborhood, 
the  community  in  self-defense  purchased  the  town 
that  contained  the  railway  station.  So  when  the 
good  Christian  Metz  died  in  1867,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two,  his  pious  followers,  thanks  to  his  sagac- 
ity, were  possessed  of  some  twenty-six  thousand 
acres  of  rich  Iowa  land  and  seven  thriving  villages, 
comfortably  housing  about  1400  of  the  faithful. 
Barbara  Heynemann  died  in  1883,  and  since  her 
death  no  "instrument"  has  been  found  to  disclose 
the  will  of  God.  But  many  ponderous  tomes  of 
"revelations"  have  survived  and  these  are  faith- 
fully read  and  their  naive  personal  directions  and 
inhibitions  are  still  generally  obeyed.  The  Bible, 
however,  remains  the  main  guide  of  these  people, 
and  they  follow  its  instructions  with  childish  liter- 
alism. Until  quite  recently  they  clung  to  the 
simple  dress  and  the  austere  life  of  their  earlier 
years.  The  solidarity  of  the  community  has  been 
maintained  with  rare  skill.  The  "Great  Council 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  83 

of  the  Brethren"  upon  whom  is  laid  the  burden  of 
directing  all  the  affairs,  has  avoided  government  by 
mass  meeting,  discouraged  irresponsible  talk  and 
criticism,  and,  as  an  aristocracy  of  elders,  has 
shrewdly  controlled  the  material  and  spiritual  life 
of  the  community. 

The  society  has  received  many  new  members. 
There  have  been  accessions  from  Zoar  and  Econ- 
omy and  one  or  two  Americans  have  joined.  The 
"Great  Council,"  in  its  desire  to  maintain  the 
homogeneity  of  the  group,  rejects  the  large  num- 
ber of  applications  for  membership  received  every 
year.  Over  sixty  per  cent  of  the  young  people 
who  have  left  the  community  to  try  the  world 
have  come  back  to  "colony  trousers"  or  "colony 
skirts,"  symbols  of  the  complete  submergence  of 
the  individual. 

Celibacy  has  been  encouraged  but  never  en- 
joined, and  the  young  people  are  permitted  to 
marry,  if  the  Spirit  gives  its  sanction,  the  Elders 
their  consent,  and  if  the  man  has  reached  the  age 
of  twenty-four  years.  The  two  sexes  are  rigidly 
separated  in  school,  in  church,  at  work,  and  in  the 
communal  dining  rooms.  Each  family  lives  in  a 
house,  but  there  are  communal  kitchens,  where 

f 

meals  are  served  to  groups  of  twenty  or  more. 


84  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Every  member  receives  an  annual  cash  bonus  vary- 
ing from  $25  to  $75  and  a  pass  book  to  record  his 
credits  at  the  "store."  The  work  is  doled  out 
among  the  members,  who  take  pride  in  the  quality 
rather  than  in  the  quantity  of  their  product.  All 
forms  of  amusement  are  forbidden;  music,  which 
flourished  in  other  German  communities,  is  sup- 
pressed; and  even  reading  for  pleasure  or  informa- 
tion was  until  recently  under  the  ban. 

The  only  symbols  of  gayety  in  the  villages  are  the 
flowers,  and  these  are  everywhere  in  lavish  abun- 
dance, softening  the  austere  lines  of  the  plain  and 
unpainted  houses.  No  architect  has  been  allowed 
to  show  his  skill,  no  artist  his  genius,  in  the  shap- 
ing of  this  rigorous  life.  But  its  industries  flour- 
ish. Amana  calico  and  Amana  woolens  are  known 
in  many  markets.  The  livestock  is  of  the  finest 
breeds;  the  products  of  the  fields  and  orchards  are 
the  choicest.  But  the  modern  visitor  wonders  how 
long  this  prosperity  will  be  able  to  maintain  that 
isolation  which  alone  insured  the  communal  soli- 
darity. Already  store  clothes  are  being  worn,  pho- 
tographs are  seen  on  the  walls,  "worldly  "  furniture 
is  being  used,  libraries,  those  openers  of  closed 
minds,  are  in  every  schoolhouse,  and  newspapers 
and  magazines  are  ** allowed," 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  85 

The  experiences  of  Eric  Janson  and  his  devotees 
whom  he  led  out  of  Sweden  to  Bishop  Hill  Colony, 
in  Illinois,  are  replete  with  dramatic  and  tragic 
details.  Janson  was  a  rugged  Swedish  peasant, 
whose  eloquence  and  gift  of  second  sight  made  him 
the  prophet  of  the  Devotionalists,  a  sect  that  at- 
tempted to  reestablish  the  simplicity  of  the  primi- 
tive church  among  the  Lutherans  of  Scandinavia. 
Driven  from  pillar  to  post  by  the  relentless  hatred 
of  the  Established  Church,  they  sought  refuge  in 
America,  where  Janson  planned  a  theocratic  social- 
istic community.  Its  communism  was  based  en- 
tirely upon  religious  convictions,  for  neither  Janson 
nor  any  of  his  illiterate  followers  had  heard  of  the 
politico-economic  systems  of  French  reformers. 
Over  one  thousand  young  and  vigorous  peasants 
followed  him  to  America.  The  first  contingent  of 
four  hundred  arrived  in  1846  and  spent  their  first 
winter  in  untold  miseries  and  privations,  with  barely 
sufficient  food,  but  with  enough  spiritual  fervor  to 
kindle  two  religious  services  a  day  and  three  on 
Sunday.  Attacking  the  vast  prairies  with  their 
primitive  implements,  harvesting  grain  with  the 
sickle  and  grinding  it  by  hand  when  their  water 
power  gave  out,  sheltering  themselves  in  tents  and 
caves,  enduring  agues  and  fevers,  hunger  and  cold, 


86  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

the  majority  still  remained  loyal  to  the  leader 
whose  eloquence  fired  them  with  a  sustaining  hope. 
Thrift,  unremitting  toil,  the  wonderful  fertility  of 
the  prairie,  the  high  price  of  wheat,  flax,  and  broom 
corn,  were  bound  to  bring  prosperity.  In  1848 
they  built  a  huge  brick  dormitory  and  dining  hall, 
a  great  frame  church,  and  a  number  of  smaller 
dwellings.  Improved  housing  at  once  told  on  the 
general  health,  though  in  the  next  year  a  scourge 
of  cholera,  introduced  by  some  newcomer,  claimed 
143  members. 

In  the  meantime  John  Root,  an  adventurer  from 
Stockholm,  who  had  served  in  the  American  army, 
arrived  at  the  colony  and  soon  fell  in  love  with  the 
cousin  of  Eric  Janson.  The  prophet  gave  his  con- 
sent to  the  marriage  on  condition  that,  if  at  any 
time  Root  wished  to  leave  the  colony,  his  wife 
should  be  permitted  to  remain  if  she  desired.  A 
written  agreement  acknowledged  Root's  consent 
to  these  conditions.  He  soon  tired  of  a  life  for 
which  he  had  not  the  remotest  liking,  and,  failing 
to  entice  his  wife  away  with  him,  he  kidnaped  her 
and  forcibly  detained  her  in  Chicago,  whence  she 
was  rescued  by  a  valiant  band  of  the  colonists.  In 
retaliation  the  irate  husband  organized  a  mob  of 
frontiers  folk  to  drive  out  the  fanatics  as  they  had  a 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  87 

short  time  before  driven  out  Brigham  Young  and 
his  Mormons.  But  the  neighbors  of  the  colonists, 
having  learned  their  sterling  worth,  came  to  the 
rescue.  Root  then  began  legal  proceedings  against 
Janson.  In  May,  1850,  while  in  court  the  rene- 
gade deliberately  shot  and  killed  the  prophet.  The 
community  in  despair  awaited  three  days  the  re- 
turn to  life  of  the  man  whom  they  looked  upon  as 
a  representative  of  Christ  sent  to  earth  to  rebuild 
the  Tabernacle. 

Janson  had  been  a  very  poor  manager,  how- 
ever, and  the  colony  was  in  debt.  In  order  quick- 
ly to  obtain  money,  he  had  sent  Jonas  Olsen,  the 
ablest  and  strongest  of  his  followers,  to  Califor- 
nia to  seek  gold  to  wipe  out  the  debt.  Upon  hear- 
ing of  the  tragedy,  Olsen  hastened  back  to  Bish- 
op Hill  and  was  soon  in  charge  of  affairs.  In 
1853  he  obtained  for  the  colony  a  charter  of  in- 
corporation which  vested  the  entire  management 
of  the  property  in  seven  trustees.  These  men, 
under  the  by-laws  adopted,  became  also  the  spirit- 
ual mentors,  and  the  colonists,  unacquainted  with 
democratic  usages  in  government,  submitted  will- 
ingly to  the  leadership  of  this  oligarchy.  A  new  era 
of  great  material  prosperity  now  set  in.  The  vil- 
lage was  rebuilt.  The  great  house  was  enlarged  so 


88  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

that  all  the  inhabitants  could  be  accommodated  in 
its  vast  communal  dining  room .  Trees  were  planted 
along  the  streets.  Shops  and  mills  were  erected, 
and  a  hotel  became  the  means  of  introducing 
strangers  to  the  community. 

Meanwhile  Olsen  was  growing  more  and  more 
arbitrary  and,  after  a  bitter  controversy,  he  im- 
posed celibacy  upon  the  members.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  end.  One  of  the  trustees,  Olaf 
Jansen,  a  good-natured  peasant  who  could  not 
keep  his  accounts  but  who  had  a  peasant's  sagacity 
for  a  bargain,  wormed  his  way  into  financial  con- 
trol. He  wanted  to  make  the  colony  rich,  but  he 
led  it  to  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  He  became  a 
speculator  and  promoter.  Stories  of  his  shortcom- 
ings were  whispered  about  and  in  1860  the  peasant 
colony  revolted  and  deposed  Olaf  from  office.  He 
then  had  himself  appointed  receiver  to  wind  up  the 
corporation's  affairs,  and  in  the  following  year  the 
communal  property  was  distributed.  Every  mem- 
ber, male  and  female,  thirty-five  years  of  age  re- 
ceived a  full  share  which  "consisted  of  22  acres  of 
land,  one  timber  lot  of  nearly  2  acres,  one  town  lot, 
and  an  equal  part  of  all  barns,  houses,  cattle,  hogs, 
sheep  or  other  domestic  animals  and  all  farm- 
ing implements  and  household  utensils."  Those 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  89 

under  thirty-five  received  according  to  their  age. 
Had  these  shares  been  unencumbered,  this  would 
have  represented  a  fair  return  for  their  labor.  But 
Olaf  had  made  no  half-way  business  of  his  financial 
ambitions,  and  the  former  members  who  now  were 
melting  peacefully  and  rather  contentedly  into  the 
general  American  life  found  themselves  saddled 
with  his  obligations.  The  "colony  case"  became 
famous  among  Illinois  lawyers  and  dragged  through 
twelve  years  of  litigation.  Thus  the  glowing  fra- 
ternal communism  of  poor  Janson  ended  in  the 
drab  discord  of  an  American  lawsuit. 

In  1862  the  followers  of  Jacob  Hutter,  a  Men- 
nonite  martyr  who  was  burned  at  the  stake  in 
Innsbruck  in  the  sixteenth  century,  founded  the 
Old  Elmspring  Community  on  the  James  River 
in  South  Dakota.  During  the  Thirty  Years'  War 
these  saintly  Quaker-like  German  folk  had  found 
refuge  in  Moravia,  whence  they  had  been  driven 
into  Hungary,  later  into  Rumania,  and  then  in- 
to Russia.  As  their  objection  to  military  serv- 
ice brought  them  into  conflict  with  the  Czar's 
government,  they  finally  determined  to  migrate 
to  America.  In  1874  they  had  all  reached 
South  Dakota,  where  they  now  live  in  five  small 
communities.  Scarcely  four  hundred  all  told, 


90  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

they  cling  to  their  ancient  ambition  to  keep  them- 
selves "unspotted  from  the  world,'*  and  so  have 
evolved  a  self-sustaining  communal  life,  char- 
acterized by  great  simplicity  of  dress,  of  speech, 
and  of  living.  They  speak  German  and  refrain 
entirely  from  voting  and  from  other  political  ac- 
tivity. They  are  farmers  and  practise  only  those 
handicrafts  which  are  necessary  to  their  own  com- 
munal welfare. 

While  most  of  these  German  sectarian  communi- 
ties had  only  a  slight  economic  effect  upon  the 
United  States,  their  influence  upon  immigration  has 
been  extensive.  In  the  early  part  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, it  was  difficult  to  obtain  authentic  news  con- 
cerning America  in  the  remote  hamlets  of  Europe. 
All  sorts  of  vague  and  grotesque  notions  about  this 
country  were  afloat.  Every  member  of  these  com- 
munities, when  he  wrote  to  those  left  behind,  be- 
came a  living  witness  of  the  golden  opportunities 
offered  in  the  new  land.  And,  unquestionably,  a 
considerable  share  of  the  great  German  influx  in 
the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  can  be  traced 
to  the  dissemination  of  knowledge  by  this  means. 
Mikkelsen  says  of  the  Jansonists  that  their  "letters 
home  concerning  the  new  country  paved  the  way 
for  that  mighty  tide  of  Swedish  immigration  which 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  91 

in  a  few  years  began  to  roll  in  upon  Illinois  and  the 
Northwest." 

The  Shakers  are  the  oldest  and  the  largest  com- 
munistic sect  to  find  a  congenial  home  in  America. 
The  cult  originated  in  Manchester,  England,  with 
Ann  Lee,  a  " Shaking  Quaker,'*  who  never  learned 
to  read  or  write  but  depended  upon  revelation  for 
doctrine  and  guidance.  "By  a  direct  revelation, " 
says  the  Shaker  Compendium,  she  was  "instructed 
to  come  to  America. "  Obedient  to  the  vision,  she 
sailed  from  Liverpool  in  the  summer  of  1774,  ac- 
companied by  six  men  and  two  women,  among 
whom  were  her  husband,  a  brother,  and  a  niece. 
This  little  flock  settled  in  the  forests  near  Albany, 
New  York.  Abandoned  by  her  husband,  the 
prophetess  went  from  place  to  place,  proclaiming 
her  peculiar  doctrines.  Soon  she  became  known  as 
"Mother  Ann  "  and  was  reputed  to  have  supernat- 
ural powers.  At  the  time  of  her  death  in  1784  she 
had  numerous  followers  in  western  New  England 
and  eastern  New  York. 

In  1787  they  founded  their  first  Shaker  commu- 
nity at  Mount  Lebanon.  Within  a  few  years  other 
societies  were  organized  in  New  York,  Massachu- 
setts, New  Hampshire,  Maine,  and  Connecticut. 
On  the  wave  of  the  great  religious  revival  at  the 


92  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  their  doc- 
trines were  carried  west.  The  cuit  achieved  its 
highest  prosperity  in  the  decade  following  1830, 
when  it  numbered  eighteen  societies  and  about  six 
thousand  members. 

In  shrewd  and  capable  hands,  the  sect  soon  had 
both  an  elaborate  system  of  theology  based  upon 
the  teachings  of  Mother  Ann  and  also  an  effec- 
tive organization.  The  communal  life,  ordaining 
celibacy,  based  on  industry,  and  constructed  in 
the  strictest  economy,  achieved  material  prosper- 
ity and  evidently  brought  spiritual  consolation  to 
those  who  committed  themselves  to  its  isolation. 
Although  originating  in  England,  the  sect  is  con- 
fined wholly  to  America  and  has  from  the  first  re- 
cruited its  membership  almost  wholly  from  native 
Americans. 

Another  of  these  social  experiments  was  the  Onei- 
da  Community  and  its  several  ephemeral  branches. 
Though  it  was  of  American  origin  and  the  members 
were  almost  wholly  American,  it  deserves  passing 
mention.  The  founder,  John  Humphrey  Noyes,  a 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  and  a  Yale  divinity  student, 
conceived  a  system  of  communal  life  which  should 
make  it  possible  for  the  individual  to  live  without 
sin.  This  perfectionism,  he  believed,  necessitated 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  93 

the  abolition  of  private  property  through  com- 
munism, the  abolition  of  sickness  through  com- 
plete cooperation  of  the  individual  with  God,  and 
the  abolition  of  the  family  through  a  "scientific" 
cooperation  of  the  sexes.  The  Oneida  Communi- 
ty was  financially  very  prosperous.  Its  "stirpicul- 
ture,"  Noyes's  high-sounding  synonym  for  free 
love,  brought  it,  however,  into  violent  conflict  with 
public  opinion,  and  in  1879  "complex  marriages" 
gave  way  to  monogamous  families.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  the  communistic  holding  of  property  gave 
way  to  a  joint  stock  company,  under  whose  skill- 
ful management  the  prosperity  of  the  community 
continues  today. 

The  American  Utopias  based  upon  an  assumed 
economic  altruism  were  much  more  numerous  than 
those  founded  primarily  upon  religion  but,  as 
they  were  recruited  almost  wholly  from  Americans, 
they  need  engage  our  attention  only  briefly.  There 
were  two  groups  of  economic  communistic  experi- 
ments, similar  in  their  general  characteristics  but 
differing  in  their  origin.  One  took  its  inspiration 
directly  from  Robert  Owen,  the  distinguished  phi- 
lanthropist and  successful  cotton  manufacturer  of 
Scotland;  the  other  from  Fourier,  the  noted  French 
social  philosopher. 


94  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

In  1825  Robert  Owen  purchased  New  Harmony, 
Rapp's  village  in  Indiana  and  its  thirty  thousand 
appurtenant  acres.  When  Owen  came  to  America 
he  was  already  famous.  Great  throngs  flocked  to 
hear  this  practical  man  utter  the  most  visionary 
sentiments.  At  Washington,  for  instance,  he  lec- 
tured to  an  auditory  that  included  great  senators 
and  famous  representatives,  members  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  and  of  the  Cabinet,  President  Monroe 
and  Adams,  the  President-elect.  He  displayed  to 
his  eager  hearers  the  plans  and  specifications  of 
the  new  human  order,  his  glorified  apartment  house 
with  all  the  external  paraphernalia  of  selective 
human  perfection  drawn  to  scale. 

For  a  brief  period  New  Harmony  was  the  com- 
munistic capital  of  the  world.  It  was  discussed 
everywhere  and  became,  says  its  chronicler,  "the 
rendezvous  of  the  enlightened  and  progressive 
people  from  all  over  the  United  States  and  north- 
ern Europe."  It  achieved  a  sort  of  motley  cosmo- 
politanism. A  "  Boat  Load  of  Knowledge  "  carried 
from  Pittsburgh  the  most  distinguished  group  of 
scientists  that  had  hitherto  been  brought  togeth- 
er in  America.  It  included  William  Maclure,  a 
Scotchman  who  came  to  America,  at  the  age  of 
thirty-three,  ambitious  to  make  a  geological  survey 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  95 

of  the  country  and  whose  learning  and  energy 
soon  earned  him  the  title  of  "Father  of  American 
Geology";  Thomas  Say,  "the  Father  of  American 
Zoology";  Charles  Alexander  Lesueur,  a  distin- 
guished naturalist  from  the  Jardin  des  Plantes 
of  Paris;  Constantine  S.  Rafinesque,  a  scientific 
nomad  whose  studies  of  fishes  took  him  everywhere 
and  whose  restless  spirit  forbade  him  remaining 
long  anywhere;  Gerard  Troost,  a  Dutch  scientist 
who  later  did  pioneer  work  in  western  geology; 
Joseph  Neef,  a  well-known  Pestalozzian  educa- 
tor, together  with  two  French  experts  in  that  sys- 
tem; and  Owen's  four  brilliant  sons.  A  few  artists 
and  musicians  and  all  sorts  of  reformers,  including 
Fanny  Wright,  an  ardent  and  very  advanced  suf- 
fragette, joined  these  scientists  in  the  new  Eden. 
Owen  had  issued  a  universal  invitation  to  the  "in- 
dustrious and  well  disposed,"  but  his  project  of- 
fered also  the  lure  of  a  free  meal  ticket  for  the 
improvident  and  the  glitter  of  novelty  for  the 
restless. 

"I  am  come  to  this  country,"  Owen  said  in  his 
opening  words  at  New  Harmony,  "to  introduce  an 
entire  new  state  of  society,  to  change  it  from  the 
ignorant,  selfish  system  to  an  enlightened  social 
system,  which  shall  gradually  unite  all  interests 


96  CUB  FOREIGNERS 

into  one,  and  remove  all  causes  for  contests 
between  individuals. "  *  But  the  germs  of  dissolu- 
tion were  already  present  in  the  extreme  individ- 
uality of  the  members  of  this  new  society.  Here 
was  no  homogeneous  horde  of  docile  German 
peasants  waiting  to  be  commanded.  What  Father 
Rapp  could  do,  Owen  could  not.  The  sifting  proc- 
ess had  begun  too  late.  Seven  different  constitu- 
tions issued  in  rapid  succession  attempted  in  vain 
to  discover  a  common  bond  of  action.  In  less  than 
two  years  Owen's  money  was  gone,  and  nine  hun- 
dred or  more  disillusioned  persons  rejoined  the 
more  individualistic  world.  Many  of  them  sub- 
sequently achieved  distinction  in  professional  and 
public  callings.  Owen's  widely  advertised  experi- 
ment was  fecund,  however,  and  produced  some 
eleven  other  short-lived  communistic  attempts,  of 
which  the  most  noted  were  at  Franklin,  Haver- 
straw,  and  Coxsackie  in  New  York,  Yellow  Springs 
and  Kendal  in  Ohio,  and  Forestville  and  Macluria 
in  Indiana.  • 

Fourier-ism  found  its  principal  apostle  in  this 
country  in  Arthur  Brisbane,  whose  Social  Destiny 
of  Man,  published  in  1840,  brought  to  America 
the  French  philosopher's  naive,  social  regimen  of 

1  The  New  Harmony  Movement,  by  G.  B.  Lock  wood,  p.  83. 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  97 

reducing  the  world  of  men  to  simple  units  called 
phalanxes,  whose  barrack-like  routine  should  insure 
plenty,  equality,  and  happiness.  Horace  Greeley, 
with  characteristic,  erratic  eagerness,  pounced 
upon  the  new  gospel,  and  Brisbane  obtained  at 
once  a  wide  circle  of  sympathetic  readers  through 
the  Tribune.  Thirty-four  phalanxes  were  organ- 
ized in  a  short  time,  most  of  them  with  an  incred- 
ible lack  of  foresight.  They  usually  lasted  until 
the  first  payment  on  the  mortgage  was  due,  though 
a  few  weathered  the  buffetings  of  fortune  for  sev- 
eral years.  Brook  Farm  in  Massachusetts  and  the 
Wisconsin  phalanx  each  endured  six  years,  and  the 
North  American  phalanx  at  Red  Bank,  New  Jersey, 
lasted  thirteen  years. 

Icaria  is  a  romantic  sequel  to  the  Owen  and 
Fourier  colonies.  It  antedated  Brisbane's  revival 
of  Fourierism,  was  encouraged  by  Owenism,  sur- 
vived both,  and  formed  a  living  link  between  the 
utopianism  of  the  early  nineteenth  century  and 

* 

the  utilitarian  socialism  of  the  twentieth.  Etienne 
Cabet  was  one  of  those  interesting  Frenchmen 
whose  fertile  minds  and  instinct  for  rapid  ac- 
tion made  France  during  the  nineteenth  century 
kaleidoscopic  with  social  and  political  events. 
Though  educated  for  the  bar,  Cabet  devoted 


98  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

himself  to  social  and  political  reform.  As  a  young 
man  he  was  a  director  in  that  powerful  secret  order, 
the  Carbonari,  and  was  elected  to  the  French  cham- 
ber of  deputies,  but  his  violent  attitude  toward  the 
Government  was  such  that  in  1834  he  was  obliged 
to  flee  to  London  to  escape  imprisonment.  Here, 
unmolested,  he  devoted  himself  for  five  years  to  so- 
cial and  historical  research.  He  returned  to  France 
in  1839  and  in  the  following  year  published  his 
Voyage  en  Icarie,  a  book  that  at  once  took  its  place 
by  the  side  of  Sir  Thomas  More's  Utopia.  Cabet 
pictured  in  his  volume  an  ideal  society  where 
plenty  should  be  a  substitute  for  poverty  and  equal- 
ity a  remedy  for  class  egoism.  So  great  was  the 
cogency  of  his  writing  that  Icaria  became  more 
than  a  mere  vision  to  hundreds  of  thousands  in 
those  years  of  social  ferment  and  democratic  aspi- 
rations. From  a  hundred  sources  the  demand  arose 
to  translate  the  book  into  action.  Cabet  there- 
upon framed  a  constitution  and  sought  the  means 
of  founding  a  real  Icaria.  After  consulting  Robert 
Owen,  he  unfortunately  fell  into  the  clutches  of 
some  Cincinnati  land  speculators  and  chose  a  site 
for  his  colony  in  the  northeastern  part  of  Texas. 
When  the  announcement  was  made  in  his  paper, 
Le  Populaire,  the  responses  were  so  numerous 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  99 

that  Cabet  believed  that  "more  than  a  million 
cob'perators"  were  eager  for  the  experiment. 

In  February,  1848,  sixty-nine  young  men,  all 
carefully  selected  volunteers,  were  sent  forth  from 
Havre  as  the  vanguard  of  the  contemplated  exodus. 
But  the  movement  was  halted  by  the  turn  of  great 
events.  Twenty  days  after  the  young  men  sailed, 
the  French  Republic  was  proclaimed,  and  in  the 
fervor  and  distraction  of  this  immediate  political 
victory  the  new  and  distant  Utopia  seemed  to 
thousands  less  alluring  than  it  had  been  before. 
The  group  of  young  volunteers,  however,  reached 
America.  After  heart-rending  disillusionment  in 
the  swamps  and  forests  of  Louisiana  and  on  the  raw 
prairies  of  Texas,  they  made  then*  way  back  to  New 
Orleans  in  time  to  meet  Cabet  and  four  hundred 
Icarians,  who  arrived  early  in  1849.  The  Gallic 
instinct  for  factional  differences  soon  began  to  as- 
sert itself  in  repeated  division  and  subdivision  on 
the  part  of  the  idealists.  One-half  withdrew  at 
New  Orleans  to  work  out  their  individual  salvation. 
The  remainder  followed  Cabet  to  the  deserted  Mor- 
mon town  of  Nauvoo,  Illinois,  where  vacant  houses 
offered  immediate  shelter  and  where  they  enjoyed 
an  interval  of  prosperity.  The  French  genius  for 
music,  for  theatricals,  and  for  literature  relieved 


100  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

them  from  the  tedium  that  characterized  most  co- 
operative colonies.  Soon  their  numbers  increased 
to  five  hundred  by  accessions  which,  with  few 
exceptions,  were  French. 

But  Cabet  was  not  a  practical  leader.  His  pam- 
phlet published  in  German  in  1854,  entitled  //  / 
had  half  a  million  dollars,  reveals  the  naivete  of  his 
mind.  He  wanted  to  find  money,  not  to  make  it. 
The  society  soon  became  involved  in  a  controversy 
in  which  Cabet's  immediate  following  were  out- 
numbered. The  minority  petulantly  stopped  work- 
ing but  continued  to  eat.  "The  majority  decided 
that  those  who  would  not  work  should  not  eat .  .  . 
and  gave  notice  that  those  who  absented  them- 
selves from  labor  would  be  cut  off  from  rations. " f 
As  a  result,  Cabet,  in  1856,  was  expelled  from  his 
own  Icaria!  With  170  faithful  adherents  he  went 
to  St.  Louis,  and  there  a  few  days  later  he  died. 
The  minority  buried  their  leader,  but  their  faith  in 
communal  life  survived  this  setback.  At  Chelten- 
ham, a  suburb  of  St.  Louis,  they  acquired  a  small 
estate,  where  proximity  to  the  city  enabled  the  mem- 
bers to  get  work.  Here  they  lived  together  six 
years  before  division  disrupted  them  permanently. 

1  /carts,  A  Chapter  in  the  Hiitory  of  Communism,  by  Albert 
Shaw,  p.  68. 


UTOPIAS  IN  AMERICA  101 

At  Nauvoo  in  the  meantime  there  had  been  other 
secessions,  and  the  property,  in  1857,  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  receiver.  The  plucky  and  determined 
remnant,  however,  removed  to  Iowa,  where  on  the 
prairie  near  Corning  they  planted  a  new  Icaria. 
Here,  by  hard  toil  and  in  extreme  poverty,  but  hi 
harmony  and  contentment,  the  communists  lived 
until,  in  1876,  the  younger  members  wished  to 
adopt  advanced  methods  in  farming,  in  finance, 
and  in  management.  The  older  men,  with  wisdom 
acquired  through  bitter  experience,  refused  to  alter 
their  methods.  The  younger  party  won  a  lawsuit 
to  annul  the  communal  charter.  The  property 
was  divided,  and  again  there  were  two  Icarias,  the 
"young  party"  retaining  the  old  site  and  the  "old 
party"  moving  on  and  founding  New  Icaria,  a  few 
miles  from  the  old.  But  Old  Icaria  was  soon  split: 
one  faction  removed  to  California,  where  the  Icaria- 
Speranza  community  was  founded;  and  the  other 
remained  at  Old  Icaria.  Both  came  to  grief  in 
1888.  Finally  in  1895  New  Icaria,  then  reduced  to 
a  few  veterans,  was  dissolved  by  a  unanimous  vote 
of  the  community. 

In  1854  Victor  Considerant,  the  French  socialist, 
planted  a  Fourieristic  phalanx  in  Texas,  under  the 


10S  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

liberal  patronage  of  J.  B.  A.  Godin,  the  godfather 
of  Fourierism  in  France  who  founded  at  Guise 
the  only  really  successful  phalanx.  A  French  com- 
munistic colony  was  also  attempted  at  Silkville, 
Kansas.  But  both  ventures  lasted  only  a  few 
years.  Since  the  subsidence  of  these  French  com- 
munistic experiments,  there  have  been  many  spo- 
radic attempts  at  founding  idealistic  communities 
in  the  United  States.  Over  fifty  have  been  tried 
since  the  Civil  War.  Nearly  all  were  established 
under  American  auspices  and  did  not  lure  many 
foreigners. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   IRISH   INVASION 

AFTER  the  Revolution,  immigrants  began  to  filter 
into  America  from  Great  Britain  and  continental 
Europe.  No  record  was  kept  of  their  arrival,  and 
their  numbers  have  been  estimated  at  from  4000  to 
10,000  a  year,  on  the  average.  These  people  came 
nearly  all  from  Great  Britain  and  were  driven  to 
migrate  by  financial  and  political  conditions. 

In  1819  Congress  passed  a  law  requiring  Collec- 
tors of  Customs  to  keep  a  record  of  passengers  ar- 
riving in  their  districts,  together  with  their  age,  sex, 
occupation,  and  the  country  whence  they  came, 
and  to  report  this  information  to  the  Secretary  of 
State.  This  was  the  Federal  Government's  first  ef- 
fort to  collect  facts  concerning  immigration.  The 
law  was  defective,  yet  it  might  have  yielded  valu- 
able results  had  it  been  intelligently  enforced. T 

*  The  immigration  reports  were  perfunctory  and  lacking  in 
accuracy.  Passengers  were  frequently  listed  as  belonging  to  the 

103 


104  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

From  all  available  collateral  sources  it  appears 
that  the  official  figures  greatly  understated  the  ac- 
tual number  of  arrivals.  Great  Britain  kept  an  of- 
ficial record  of  those  who  emigrated  from  her  ports 
to  the  United  States  and  the  numbers  so  listed 
are  nearly  as  large  as  the  total  immigration  from 
all  sources  reported  by  the  United  States  officials 
during  a  time  when  a  heavy  influx  is  known  to  have 
been  coming  from  Germany  and  Switzerland. 

Inaccurate  as  these  figures  are,  they  nevertheless 
are  a  barometer  indicating  the  rising  pressure  of 
immigration.  The  first  official  figures  show  that  in 
1820  there  arrived  8385  aliens  of  whom  7691  were 
Europeans.  Of  these  3614,  or  nearly  one-half, 
came  from  Ireland.  Until  1850  this  proportion  was 
maintained.  Here  was  evidence  of  the  first  ground 
swell  of  immigration  to  the  United  States  whose 
subsequent  waves  in  sixty  years  swept  to  America 
one-half  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Little  Green 
Isle.  Since  1820  over  four  and  a  quarter  million 


country  whence  they  sailed.  An  Irishman  taking  passage  from 
Liverpool  was  quite  as  likely  to  be  reported  English  as  Irish. 
Large  numbers  of  immigrants  were  counted  who  merely  landed  in 
New  York  and  proceeded  immediately  to  Canada,  while  many 
thousands  who  landed  in  Canada  and  moved  at  once  across  the 
border  into  northern  New  York  and  the  West  did  not  appear  in 
the  reports. 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  105 

Irish  immigrants  have  found  their  way  hither.  In 
1900  there  were  nearly  five  million  persons  in  the 
United  States  descended  from  Irish  parentage. 
They  comprise  today  ten  per  cent  of  our  foreign 
born  population. 

The  discontent  and  grievances  of  the  Irish  had  a 
vivid  historical  background  in  their  own  country. 
There  were  four  principal  causes  which  induced 
the  transplanting  of  the  race:  rebellion,  famine, 
restrictive  legislation,  and  absentee  landlordism. 
Every  uprising  of  this  bellicose  people  from  the 
time  of  Cromwell  onward  had  been  followed  by 
voluntary  and  involuntary  exile.  It  is  said  that 
Cromwell's  Government  transported  many  thou- 
sand Irish  to  the  West  Indies.  Many  of  these 
exiles  subsequently  found  their  way  to  the  Caro- 
linas,  Virginia,  and  other  colonies.  After  the  great 
Irish  rebellion  of  1798  and  again  after  Robert 
Emmet's  melancholy  failure  in  the  rising  of  1803 
many  fled  across  the  sea.  The  Act  of  Union  in 
1801  brought  "no  submissive  love  for  England," 
and  constant  political  agitations  for  which  the  Cel- 
tic Irish  need  but  little  stimulus  have  kept  the 
pathway  to  America  populous. 

The  harsh  penal  laws  of  two  centuries  ago  pre- 
scribing transportation  and  long  terms  of  penal 


106  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

servitude  were  a  compelling  agency  in  driving  the 
Irish  to  America.  Illiberal  laws  against  religious 
nonconformists,  especially  against  the  Catholics, 
closed  the  doors  of  political  advancement  in  their 
faces,  submitted  them  to  humiliating  discrimina- 
tions, and  drove  many  from  the  island.  Finally,  the 
selfish  Navigation  Laws  forbade  both  exportation 
of  cattle  to  England  and  the  sending  of  foodstuffs 
to  the  colonies,  dealing  thereby  a  heavy  blow  to  Irish 
agriculture.  These  restrictions  were  followed  by 
other  inhibitions  until  almost  every  industry  or  busi- 
ness in  which  the  Irish  engaged  was  unduly  limited 
and  controlled.  It  should,  however,  not  be  forgotten 
that  these  restrictions  bore  with  equal  weight  upon 
the  Ulster  settlers  from  Scotland  and  England,  who 
managed  somehow  to  endure  them  successfully. 

Absentee  landlordism  was  oppressive  both  to 
the  cotter's  body  and  to  his  soul,  for  it  not  only 
bound  him  to  perpetual  poverty  but  kindled  with- 
in him  a  deep  sense  of  injustice.  The  historian, 
Justin  McCarthy,  says  that  the  Irishman  "re- 
garded the  right  to  have  a  bit  of  land,  his  share, 
exactly  as  other  people  regard  the  right  to  live." 
So  political  and  economic  conditions  combined  to 
feed  the  discontent  of  a  people  peculiarly  sensitive 
to  wrongs  and  swift  in  their  resentments. 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  107 

But  the  most  potent  cause  of  the  great  Irish 
influx  into  America  was  famine  in  Ireland.  The 
economist  may  well  ascribe  Irish  failure  to  the 
potato.  Here  was  a  crop  so  easy  of  culture  and 
of  such  nourishing  qualities  that  it  led  to  over- 
population and  all  its  attendant  ills.  The  fail- 
ure of  this  crop  was  indeed  an  "overwhelming 
disaster,"  for,  according  to  Justin  McCarthy,  the 
Irish  peasant  with  his  wife  and  his  family  lived 
on  the  potato,  and  whole  generations  grew  up, 
lived,  married,  and  passed  away  without  ever 
having  tasted  meat.  When  the  cold  and  damp 
summer  of  1845  brought  the  potato  rot,  the  little, 
overpopulated  island  was  facing  dire  want.  But 
when  the  next  two  years  brought  a  plant  disease 
that  destroyed  the  entire  crop,  then  famine  and 
fever  claimed  one  quarter  of  the  eight  million  in- 
habitants. The  pitiful  details  of  this  national  dis- 
aster touched  American  hearts.  Fleets  of  relief 
ships  were  sent  across  from  America,  and  many  a 
shipload  of  Irish  peasants  was  brought  back.  In 
1845  over  44,821  came;  1847  saw  this  number  rise 
to  105,536  and  in  the  next  year  to  112,934.  Re- 
bellion following  the  famine  swelled  the  number  of 
immigrants  until  Ireland  was  left  a  land  of  old 
people  with  a  fast  shrinking  population. 


108  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

There  is  a  prevailing  notion  that  this  influx  after 
the  great  famine  was  the  commencement  of  Irish 
migration.  In  reality  it  was  only  the  climax. 
Long  before  this,  Irishmen  were  found  in  the  col- 
onies, chiefly  as  indentured  servants;  they  were  in 
the  Continental  Army  as  valiant  soldiers ;  they  were 
in  the  western  flux  that  filled  the  Mississippi  Valley 
as  useful  pioneers.  How  many  there  were  we  do 
not  know.  As  early  as  1737,  however,  there  were 
enough  in  Boston  to  celebrate  St.  Patrick's  Day, 
and  in  1762  they  poured  libations  to  their  favorite 
saint  in  New  York  City,  for  the  Mercury  in  an- 
nouncing the  meeting  said,  "Gentlemen  that 
please  to  attend  will  meet  with  the  best  Usage." 
On  March  17,  1776,  the  English  troops  evacu- 
ated Boston  and  General  Washington  issued  the 
following  order  on  that  date: 

Parole  Boston 
Countersign  St.  Patrick 

The  regiments  under  marching  orders  to  march  tomorrow  morn- 
ing.    By  His  Excellency's  command. 

Brigadier  of  the  Day 
GEN.  JOHN  SULLIVAN. 

Thus  did  the  Patriot  Army  gracefully  acknowledge 
the  day  and  the  people. 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  109 

In  1784,  on  the  first  St.  Patrick's  Day  after  the 
evacuation  of  New  York  City  by  the  British,  there 
was  a  glorious  celebration  "spent  in  festivity  and 
mirth."  As  the  newspaper  reporter  put  it,  "the 
greatest  unanimity  and  conviviality  pervaded"  a 
"numerous  and  jovial  company." 

Branches  of  the  Society  of  United  Irishmen  were 
formed  in  American  cities  soon  after  the  founding 
of  the  order  in  Ireland.  Many  veterans  of  '98 
found  their  way  to  America,  and  between  1800  and 
1820  many  thousand  followed  the  course  of  the 
setting  sun.  Their  number  cannot  be  ascertained; 
but  there  were  not  a  few.  In  1818  Irish  immigrant 
associations  were  organized  by  the  Irish  in  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  to  aid  the  new- 
comers in  finding  work.  Many  filtered  into  the 
United  States  from  Canada,  Newfoundland,  and 
the  West  Indies.  These  earlier  arrivals  were  not 
composed  of  the  abjectly  poor  who  comprised  the 
majority  of  the  great  exodus,  and  especially  among 
the  political  exiles  there  were  to  be  found  men  of 
some  means  and  education. 

America  became  extremely  popular  in  Ireland 
after  the  Revolution  of  1776,  partly  because  the 
English  were  defeated,  partly  because  of  Irish 
democratic  aspirations,  but  particularly  because  it 


110  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

was  a  land  of  generous  economic  and  political  pos- 
sibilities. The  Irish  at  once  claimed  a  kinship  with 
the  new  republic,  and  the  ocean  became  less  of  a 
barrier  than  St.  George's  Channel. 

"The  States,"  as  they  were  called,  became  a 
synonym  of  abundance.  The  most  lavish  reports 
of  plenty  were  sent  back  by  the  newcomers  —  of 
meat  daily,  of  white  bread,  of  comfortable  clothing. 
"There  is  a  great  many  ill  conveniences  here," 
writes  one,  "but  no  empty  bellies."  In  England 
and  Ireland  and  Scotland  the  number  of  poor  who 
longed  for  this  abundance  exceeded  the  capacity 
of  the  boats.  Many  who  would  have  willingly  gone 
to  America  lacked  the  passage  money.  The  Irish 
peasant,  born  and  reared  in  extreme  poverty,  was 
peculiarly  unable  to  scrape  together  enough  to 
pay  his  way.  The  assistance  which  he  needed, 
however,  was  forthcoming  from  various  sources. 
Friends  and  relatives  in  America  sent  him  money; 
in  later  years  this  practice  was  very  common.  So- 
cieties were  organized  to  help  those  who  could  not 
help  themselves.  Railroad  and  canal  companies, 
in  great  need  of  labor,  imported  workmen  by  the 
thousands  and  advanced  then*  passage  money. 
And  finally,  the  local  authorities  found  shipping 
their  paupers  to  another  country  a  convenient  way 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  111 

of  getting  rid  of  them.  England  early  resorted 
to  the  same  method.  In  1849  the  Irish  poor  law 
guardians  were  given  authority  to  borrow  money 
for  such  "  assistance,"  as  it  was  called.  In  1881  the 
Land  Commission  and  in  1882  the  Commissioner 
of  Public  Works  were  authorized  to  advance  money 
for  this  purpose.  In  1884  and  1885  over  sixteen 
thousand  persons  were  thus  assisted  from  Galway 
and  Mayo  counties. 

Long  before  the  great  Irish  famine  of  1846-47 
America  appeared  like  a  mirage,  and  wondering 
peasants  in  their  dire  distress  exaggerated  its  opu- 
lence and  opportunities.  They  braved  the  perils 
of  the  sea  and  trusted  to  luck  in  the  great  new 
world.  The  journey  in  itself  was  no  small  ad- 
venture. There  were  some  sailings  directly  from 
Ireland;  but  most  of  the  Irish  immigrants  were 
collected  at  Liverpool  by  agents  not  always  scrup- 
ulous in  their  dealings.  A  hurried  inspection  at 
Liverpool  gained  them  the  required  medical  cer- 
tificates, and  they  were  packed  into  the  ships. 
Of  the  voyage  one  passenger  who  made  the  journey 
from  Belfast  in  1795  said:  "The  slaves  who  are 
carried  from  the  coast  of  Africa  have  much  more 
room  allowed  them  than  the  immigrants  who 
pass  from  Ireland  to  America,  for  the  avarice  of 


112  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

captains  in  that  trade  is  such  that  they  think  they 
can  never  load  their  vessels  sufficiently,  and  they 
trouble  their  heads  in  general  no  more  about  the 
accommodation  and  storage  of  their  passengers 
than  of  any  other  lumber  aboard."  When  the 
great  immigrant  invasion  of  America  began,  there 
were  not  hah*  enough  ships  for  the  passengers,  all 
were  cruelly  overcrowded,  and  many  were  so  filthy 
that  even  American  port  officials  refused  a  landing 
before  cleansing.  Under  such  conditions  sickness 
was  a  matter  of  course,  and  of  the  hordes  who 
started  for  the  promised  land  thousands  perished 
on  the  way. ' 

Hope  sustained  the  voyagers.  But  what  must 
have  been  the  disappointment  of  thousands  when 
they  landed!  No  ardent  welcome  awaited  them, 
nor  even  jobs  for  the  majority.  Alas  for  the  rosy 
dreams  of  opulence!  Here  was  a  prosaic  place 

1  According  to  the  Edinburgh  Review  of  July,  1854,  "Liverpool 
was  crowded  with  emigrants,  and  ships  could  not  be  found  to  do 
the  work.  The  poor  creatures  were  packed  in  dense  masses,  in 
ill- ventilated  and  unseaworthy  vessels,  under  charge  of  improper 
masters,  and  the  natural  results  followed.  Pestilence  chased  the 
fugitive  to  complete"  the  work  of  famine.  Fifteen  thousand  out 
of  ninsty  thousand  emigrants  in  British  bottoms,  in  1847,  died  on 
the  passage  or  soon  after  arrival.  The  American  vessels,  owing  to 
a  stringent  passenger  law,  were  better  managed,  but  the  hospitals 
of  New  York  and  Boston  were  nevertheless  crowded  with  patients 
from  Irish  estates." 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  113 

where  toil  and  sweat  were  the  condition  of  mere 
existence.  As  the  poor  creatures  had  no  means  of 
moving  on,  they  huddled  in  the  ports  of  arrival. 
Almshouses  were  filled,  beggars  wandered  in  every 
street,  and  these  peasants  accustomed  to  the  soil 
and  the  open  country  were  congested  in  the  cities, 
unhappy  misfits  in  an  entirely  new  economic  en- 
vironment. Unskilled  in  the  handicrafts,  they 
were  forced  to  accept  the  lot  of  the  common  laborer. 
Fortunately,  the  great  influx  came  at  the  time  of 
rapid  turnpike,  canal,  and  railroad  expansion. 
Thousands  found  their  way  westward  with  con- 
tractors' gangs.  The  free  lands,  however,  did  not 
lure  them.  They  preferred  to  remain  in  the  cities. 
New  York  in  1850  sheltered  133,000  Irish.  Phila- 
delphia, Boston,  New  Orleans,  Cincinnati,  Albany, 
Baltimore,  and  St.  Louis,  followed,  in  the  order 
given,  as  favorite  lodging  places,  and  there  was  not 
one  rapidly  growing  western  city,  such  as  Buffalo, 
Cleveland,  Detroit,  and  Chicago,  that  did  not 
have  its  "Irish  town"  or  "Shanty  town"  where 
the  immigrants  clung  together. 

Their  brogue  and  dress  provoked  ridicule;  their 
poverty  often  threw  them  upon  the  community; 
the  large  percentage  of  illiteracy  among  them 
evoked  little  sympathy;  their  inclinations  towards 


114  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

intemperance  and  improvidence  were  not  neutral- 
ized by  their  great  good  nature  and  open-handed- 
ness;  their  religion  reawoke  historical  bitterness; 
their  genius  for  politics  aroused  jealousy;  their  pro- 
clivity to  unite  in  clubs,  associations,  and  semi-mili- 
tary companies  made  them  the  objects  of  official 
suspicion;  and  above  all,  their  willingness  to  assume 
the  offensive,  to  resent  instantly  insult  or  intimi- 
dation, brought  them  into  frequent  and  violent 
contact  with  their  new  neighbors.  "America  for 
Americans  "  became  the  battle  cry  of  reactionaries, 
who  organized  the  American  or  "Know-Nothing" 
party  and  sought  safety  at  the  polls.  While  all 
foreign  elements  were  grouped  together,  indiscrimi- 
nately, in  the  mind  of  the  nativist,  the  Irishman 
unfortunately  was  the  special  object  of  his  spleen, 
because  he  was  concentrated  in  the  cities  and  there- 
fore offered  a  visual  and  concrete  example  of  the 
danger  of  foreign  mass  movements,  because  he  was 
a  Roman  Catholic  and  thus  awakened  ancient  re- 
ligious prejudices  that  had  long  been  slumbering, 
and  because  he  fought  back  instantly,  valiantly, 
and  vehemently. 

Popular  suspicion  against  the  foreigner  in  Amer- 
ica began  almost  as  soon  as  immigration  assumed 
large  proportions.  In  1816  conservative  newspapers 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  115 

called  attention  to  the  new  problems  that  the 
Old  World  was  thrusting  upon  the  New:  the  pov- 
erty of  the  foreigner,  his  low  standard  of  living, 
his  illiteracy  and  slovenliness,  his  ignorance  of 
American  ways  and  his  unwillingness  to  submit  to 
them,  his  clannishness,  the  danger  of  his  organizing 
and  capturing  the  political  offices  and  ultimately 
the  Government.  In  addition  to  the  alarmist  and 
the  prejudiced,  careful  and  thoughtful  citizens 
were  aroused  to  the  danger.  Unfortunately,  how- 
ever, religious  antagonisms  were  aroused  and,  as 
is  always  the  case,  these  differences  awakened  the 
profoundest  prejudices  and  passions  of  the  human 
heart.  There  were  many  towns  in  New  England 
and  in  the  West  where  Roman  Catholicism  was  un- 
known except  as  a  traditional  enemy  of  free  in- 
stitutions. It  is  difficult  to  realize  in  these  days  of 
tolerance  the  feelings  aroused  in  such  communities 
when  Catholic  churches,  parochial  schools,  and  con- 
vents began  to  appear  among  them;  and  when  the 
devotees  of  this  faith  displayed  a  genius  for  prac- 
tical politics,  instinctive  distrust  developed  into 
lively  suspicion. 

The  specter  of  ecclesiastical  authority  reared  it- 
self, and  the  question  of  sharing  public  school 
moneys  with  parochial  schools  and  of  reading  the 


116  OUR  FOJ  SIGNERS 

Bible  in  the  public  schools  became  a  burning  issue. 
Here  and  there  occurred  clashes  that  were  more 
than  barroom  brawls.  Organized  gangs  infested 
the  cities.  Both  sides  were  sustained  and  en- 
couraged by  partisan  papers,  and  on  several  oc- 
casions the  antagonism  spent  themselves  in  riots 
and  destruction.  In  1834  the  Ursuline  convent  at 
Charlestown,  near  Boston,  was  sacked  and  burned. 
Ten  years  later  occurred  the  great  anti-Irish  riots 
in  Philadelphia,  in  which  two  Catholic  churches 
and  a  schoolhouse  were  burned  by  a  mob  inflamed 
to  hysteria  by  one  of  the  leaders  who  held  up  a  torn 
American  flag  and  shouted,  "  This  is  the  flag  that 
was  trampled  on  by  Irish  papists. "  Prejudice  ac- 
companied fear  into  every  city  and  "patented  citi- 
zens" were  often  subject  to  abuse  and  even  perse- 
cution. Tammany  Hall  in  New  York  City  became 
the  political  fortress  of  the  Irish.  Election  riots 
of  the  first  magnitude  were  part  of  the  routine  of 
elections,  and  the  "Bloody  Sixth  Ward  Boys "  were 
notorious  for  their  hooliganism  on  election  day. 

The  suggestions  of  the  nativists  that  paupers 
and  criminals  be  excluded  from  immigration  were 
not  embodied  into  law.  The  movement  soon  was 
lost  in  the  greater  questions  which  slavery  was 
thrusting  into  the  foreground.  When  the  fight 


THE  IRISI    INVASION  117 

with  nativism  was  over,  the  Irish  were  in  posses- 
sion of  the  cities.  They  displayed  an  amazing  apti- 
tude for  political  plotting  and  organization  and  for 
that  prime  essential  to  political  success  popularly 
known  as  "mixing."  Policemen  and  aldermen, 
ward  heelers,  bosses,  and  mayors,  were  known  by 
their  brogue.  The  Irish  demonstrated  their  loy- 
alty to  the  Union  in  the  Civil  War  and  merged 
readily  into  American  life  after  the  lurid  prejudices 
against  them  faded. 

Unfortunately,  a  great  deal  of  this  prejudice  was 
revived  when  the  secret  workings  of  an  Irish  organ- 
ization in  Pennsylvania  were  unearthed.  Among 
the  anthracite  coal  miners  a  society  was  formed, 
probably  about  1854,  called  the  Molly  Maguires,  a 
name  long  known  in  Ireland.  The  members  were 
all  Irish,  professed  the  Roman  Catholic  faith,  and 
were  active  in  the  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians. 
The  Church,  the  better  class  of  Irishmen,  and  the 
Hibernians,  however,  were  shocked  by  the  doings 
of  the  Molly  Maguires  and  utterly  disowned  them. 
They  began  their  career  of  blackmail  and  bullying 
by  sending  threats  and  death  notices  embellished 
with  crude  drawings  of  coffins  and  pistols  to  those 
against  whom  they  fancied  they  had  a  grievance, 
usually  the  mine  boss  or  an  unpopular  foreman. 


118  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

If  the  recipient  did  not  heed  the  threat,  he  was 
waylaid  and  beaten  and  his  family  was  abused.  By 
the  time  of  the  Civil  War  these  bullies  had  terror- 
ized the  entire  anthracite  region.  Through  their 
political  influence  they  elected  sheriffs  and  con- 
stables, chiefs  of  police  and  county  commissioners. 
As  they  became  bolder,  they  substituted  arson  and 
murder  for  threats  and  bullying,  and  they  made  life 
intolerable  by  their  reckless  brutality.  It  was  im- 
possible to  convict  them,  for  the  hatred  against  an 
informer,  inbred  in  every  Irishman  through  genera- 
tions of  experience  in  Ireland,  united  with  fear  in 
keeping  competent  witnesses  from  the  courts.  Fi- 
nally the  president  of  one  of  the  large  coal  companies 
employed  James  McParlan,  a  remarkably  clever 
Irish  detective.  He  joined  the  Mollies,  somehow 
eluded  their  suspicions,  and  slowly  worked  his  way 
into  their  confidence.  An  unusually  brutal  and 
cowardly  murder  in  1875  proved  his  opportunity. 
When  the  courts  finished  with  the  Mollies,  nineteen 
of  their  members  had  been  hanged,  a  large  number 
imprisoned,  and  the  organization  was  completely 
wiped  out. 

Meantime  the  Fenian  movement  served  to  keep 
the  Irish  in  the  public  eye.  This  was  no  less  than 
an  attempt  to  free  Ireland  and  disrupt  the  British 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  119 

Empire,  using  the  United  States  as  a  fulcrum,  the 
Irish  in  America  as  the  power,  and  Canada  as  the 
lever.  James  Stephens,  who  organized  the  Irish 
Republican  Brotherhood,  came  to  America  in  1858 
to  start  a  similar  movement.  After  the  Civil  War, 
which  supplied  a  training  school  for  whole  regi- 
ments of  Irish  soldiers,  a  convention  of  Fenians  was 
held  at  Philadelphia  in  1865  at  which  an  "Irish 
Republic"  was  organized,  with  a  full  complement 
of  officers,  a  Congress,  a  President,  a  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  a  Secretary  of  War,  in  fact,  a  replica 
of  the  American  Federal  Government.  It  assumed 
the  highly  absurd  and  dangerous  position  that 
it  actually  possessed  sovereignty.  The  luxurious 
mansion  of  a  pill  manufacturer  in  Union  Square, 
New  York,  was  transformed  into  its  government 
house,  and  bonds,  embellished  with  shamrocks  and 
harps  and  a  fine  portrait  of  Wolfe  Tone,  were  issued, 
payable  "ninety  days  after  the  establishment  of 
the  Irish  Republic. "  Differences  soon  arose,  and 
Stephens,  who  had  made  his  escape  from  Rich- 
mond, near  Dublin,  where  he  had  been  in  prison, 
hastened  to  America  to  compose  the  quarrel  which 
had  now  assumed  true  Hibernian  proportions.  An 
attempt  to  land  an  armed  gang  on  the  Island  of 
Campo  Bello  on  the  coast  of  New  Brunswick  was 


120  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

frustrated;  invaders  from  Vermont  spent  a  night 
over  the  Canadian  border  before  they  were  driven 
back;  and  for  several  days  Fort  Erie  on  Niagara 
River  was  held  by  about  1500  Fenians.1  General 
Meade  was  thereupon  sent  by  the  Federal  au- 
thorities to  put  an  end  to  these  ridiculous  breaches 
of  neutrality. 

Neither  Meade  nor  any  other  authority,  however, 
could  stop  the  flow  of  Fenian  adjectives  that  now 
issued  from  a  hundred  indignation  meetings  all  over 
the  land  when  Canada,  after  due  trial,  proceeded  to 
sentence  the  guilty  culprits  captured  in  the  "Battle 
of  Limestone  Ridge, "  as  the  tussle  with  Canadian 
regulars  near  Fort  Erie  was  called.  Newspapers 
abounded  with  tales  of  the  most  startling  designs 
upon  Canada  and  Britain.  There  then  occurred 
a  strong  reaction  to  the  Fenian  movement,  and  the 
American  people  were  led  to  wonder  how  much  of 
truth  there  was  in  a  statement  made  by  Thomas 
D'Arcy  McGee. 2  "  This  very  Fenian  organization 
in  the  United  States, "  he  said,  "what  does  it  really 

1  Oberholtzer,  History  of  the  United  States  since  the  Civil  War, 
vol.  I,  p.  626  ff. 

•  Thomas  D'Arcy  McGee  (1825-1868),  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
"Young  Ireland"  party,  fled  for  political  reasons  to  the  United 
States  in  1848,  where  he  established  the  New  York  Nation  and  the 
American  Celt.  When  he  changed  his  former  attitude  of  opposi- 
tion to  British  rule  in  Ireland  he  was  attacked  by  the  extreme 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  121 

prove  but  that  the  Irish  are  still  an  alien  popula- 
tion, camped  but  not  settled  in  America,  with  for- 
eign hopes  and  aspirations,  unshared  by  the  people 
among  whom  they  live?" 

The  Irishman  today  is  an  integral  part  of  every 
large  American  community.  Although  the  restric- 
tive legislation  of  two  centuries  ago  has  long  been 
repealed  and  a  new  land  system  has  brought  great 
prosperity  to  his  island  home,  the  Irishman  has  not 
abated  one  whit  in  his  temperamental  attitude  to- 
wards England  and  as  a  consequence  some  40,000 
or  50,000  of  his  fellow  countrymen  come  to  the 
United  States  every  year.  Here  he  has  been  dis- 
possessed of  his  monopoly  of  shovel  and  pick  by 
the  French  Canadian  in  New  England  and  by  the 


Irish  patriots  in  the  United  States  and  in  consequence  moved  to 
Canada,  where  he  founded  the  New  Era  and  began  to  practice  law. 
Subsequently,  with  the  support  of  the  Irish  Canadians,  he  repre- 
sented Montreal  in  the  Parliament  of  United  Canada  (1858)  and 
was  President  of  the  Council  (1862)  in  the  John  Sandfield  Mac- 
donald  Administration.  When  the  Irish  were  left  unrepresented 
in  the  reorganized  Cabinet  in  the  following  year,  McGee  became 
an  adherent  of  Sir  John  A.  Macdonald,  and  in  1864  he  was  made 
Minister  of  Agriculture  in  the  Tache- Macdonald  Administration. 
An  ardent  supporter  of  the  progressive  policies  of  his  adopted 
country,  he  was  one  of  the  Fathers  of  Confederation  and  was  a 
member  of  the  first  Dominion  Parliament  in  1867.  His  denuncia- 
tions, both  in  Ireland  (1865)  and  in  Canada,  of  the  policies  and 
activities  of  the  Fenians  led  to  his  assassination  at  Ottawa  on 
April  7.  1868. 


122  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Italian,  Syrian,  and  Armenian  in  other  parts  of  the 
country.  He  finds  work  in  factories,  for  he  still 
shuns  the  soil,  much  as  he  professes  to  love  the  "old 
sod. "  A  great  change  has  come  over  the  economic 
condition  of  the  second  and  third  generation  of 
Irish  immigrants.  Their  remarkable  buoyancy  of 
temperament  is  everywhere  displayed.  Bridget's 
daughter  has  left  the  kitchen  and  is  a  school  teacher, 
a  stenographer,  a  saleswoman,  a  milliner,  or  a  dress- 
maker; her  son  is  a  clerk,  a  bookkeeper,  a  traveling 
salesman,  or  a  foreman.  Wherever  the  human 
touch  is  the  essential  of  success,  there  you  find  the 
Irish.  That  is  why  in  some  cities  one-half  the  teach- 
ers are  Irish;  why  salesmanship  lures  them;  why 
they  are  the  most  successful  walking  delegates, 
solicitors,  agents,  foremen,  and  contractors.  In 
the  higher  walks  of  life  you  find  them  where  dash, 
brilliance,  cleverness,  and  emotion  are  demanded. 
The  law  and  the  priesthood  utilize  their  eloquence, 
journalism  their  keen  insight  into  the  human  side 
of  news,  and  literature  their  imagination  and 
humor.  They  possess  a  positive  genius  for  organi- 
zation and  management.  The  labor  unions  are  led 
by  them;  and  what  would  municipal  politics  be 
without  them?  The  list  of  eminent  names  which 
they  have  contributed  to  these  callings  will  increase 


THE  IRISH  INVASION  123 

as  their  generations  multiply  in  the  favorable  Ameri- 
can environment.  But  remote  indeed  is  the  day  and 
complex  must  be  the  experience  that  will  erase  the 
memory  of  the  ancient  Erse  proverb,  which  their 
racial  temper ameat  evoked:  " Contention  is  better 
than  loneliness." 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE 

As  the  Irish  wave  of  immigration  receded  the  Teu- 
tonic wave  rose  and  brought  the  second  great  influx 
of  foreigners  to  American  shores.  A  greater  ethnic 
contrast  could  scarcely  be  imagined  than  that  which 
was  now  afforded  by  these  two  races,  the  phleg- 
matic, plodding  German  and  the  vibrant  Irish,  a 
contrast  in  American  life  as  a  whole  which  was  soon 
represented  in  miniature  on  the  vaudeville  stage  by 
popular  burlesque  representations  of  both  types. 
The  one  was  the  opposite  of  the  other  in  temper- 
ament, in  habits,  in  personal  ambitions.  The  Ger- 
man sought  the  land,  was  content  to  be  let  alone, 
had  no  desire  to  command  others  or  to  mix  with 
them,  but  was  determined  to  be  reliable,  philo- 
sophically took  things  as  they  came,  met  opposi- 
tion with  patience,  clung  doggedly  to  a  few  cher- 
ished convictions,  and  sought  passionately  to  pos- 
sess a  home  and  a  family,  to  master  some  minute 

124 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  125 

mechanical  or  technical  detail,  and  to  take  his  lei- 
sure and  his  amusements  in  his  own  customary  way. 
The  reports  of  the  Immigration  Commissioner 
disclose  the  fact  that  well  over  five  and  a  third  mil- 
lions of  Germans  migrated  to  America  between 
1823  and  1910.  If  to  this  enormous  number  were 
added  those  of  German  blood  who  came  from  Aus- 
tria and  the  German  cantons  of  Switzerland,  from 
Luxemburg  and  the  German  settlements  of  Russia, 
it  would  reach  a  grand  total  of  well  over  seven  mil- 
lion Germans  who  have  sought  an  ampler  life  in 
America.  The  Census  of  1910  reports  "that  there 
were  8,282,618  white  persons  in  the  United  States 
having  Germany  as  their  country  of  origin,  com- 
prising 2,501,181  who  were  born  in  Germany, 
3,911,847  born  in  the  United  States  both  of  whose 
parents  were  born  in  Germany,  and  1,869,590  born 
hi  the  United  States  and  having  one  parent  born 
in  the  United  States  and  the  other  in  Germany."1 

1  According  to  the  Census  of  1910  the  nationality  of  the  total 
number  of  white  persons  of  foreign  stock  in  the  United  States  is 
distributed  chiefly  as  follows: 

Germany          8,282,618        or       25.7  per  cent 
Ireland  4,504,360        or       14.0  " 

Canada  2,754,615        or         8.6  " 

Russia  2,541,649        or         7.9  " 

England  2,822,442        or         7.2  " 

Italy  2,098,360        or         6.5  " 

Austria  2,001,559        or         6.2  " 


126  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  coming  of  the  Germans  may  be  divided  into 
three  quite  distinct  migrations:  the  early,  the  mid- 
dle, and  the  recent.  The  first  period  includes  all 
who  came  before  the  radical  ferment  which  began 
to  agitate  Europe  after  the  Napoleonic  wars.  The 
Federal  census  of  1790  discloses  176,407  Germans 
living  in  America.  But  German  writers  usually 
maintain  that  there  were  from  225,000  to  250,000 
Germans  in  the  colonies  at  the  time  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  They  had  been  driven  fron1 
the  fatherland  by  religious  persecution  and  eco- 
nomic want.  Every  German  state  contributed  to 
their  number,  but  the  bulk  of  this  migration  came 
from  the  Palatinate,  Wiirttemberg,  Baden,  and  Al- 
sace, and  the  German  cantons  of  Switzerland.  The 
majority  were  of  the  peasant  and  artisan  class  who 
usually  came  over  as  redemptioners.  Yet  there 
were  not  wanting  among  them  many  persons  of 
means  and  of  learning. 

Pennsylvania  was  the  favorite  distributing  point 
for  these  German  hosts.  Thence  they  pushed 


Furthermore,  the  significance  of  the  foreign  born  element  in  the 
population  of  the  United  States  can  be  gathered  from  the  fact 
that,  in  1910,  of  the  91,972,266  inhabitants  of  the  United 
States,  no  less  than  13,515,886  or  14.6  per  cent  were  born  in 
some  other  country. 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  127 

southward  through  the  beautiful  Shenandoah  Val- 
ley into  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  North  Carolina, 
and  northward  into  New  Jersey.  Large  numbers 
entered  at  Charleston  and  thence  went  to  the  fron- 
tiers of  South  Carolina.  The  Mohawk  Valley  in 
New  York  and  the  Berkshires  of  Massachusetts 
harbored  many.  But  not  all  of  them  moved  in- 
land. They  were  to  be  found  scattered  on  the 
coast  from  Maine  to  Georgia.  Boston,  New  York 
City,  Baltimore,  New  Bern,  Wilmington,  Charles- 
ton, and  Savannah,  all  counted  Germans  in  their 
populations.  However  strictly  these  German  neigh- 
borhoods may  have  maintained  the  customs  of 
their  native  land,  the  people  thoroughly  identi- 
fied themselves  with  the  patriot  cause  and  supplied 
soldiers,  leaders,  money,  and  enthusiasm  to  the 
cause  of  the  Revolutionary  War. 

Benjamin  Rush,  the  distinguished  Philadelphia 
physician  and  publicist,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  wrote  in  1789  a  de- 
scription of  the  Germans  of  Pennsylvania  which 
would  apply  generally  to  all  German  settlements 
at  that  time  and  to  many  of  subsequent  date.  The 
Pennsylvania  German  farmer,  he  says,  was  distin- 
guished above  everything  else  for  his  self-denying 
thrift,  housing  his  horses  and  cattle  in  commodious, 


128  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

warm  barns,  while  he  and  his  family  lived  in  a  log 
hut  until  he  was  well  able  to  afford  a  more  comfort- 
able house;  belling  his  "most  profitable  grain, 
which  is  wheat"  and  "eating  that  which  is  less 
profitable  but  more  nourishing,  that  is,  rye  or  In- 
dian corn";  breeding  the  best  of  livestock  so  that 
"a  German  horse  is  known  in  every  part  of  the 
State"  for  his  "extraordinary  size  or  fat";  clear- 
ing his  land  thoroughly,  not  "as  his  English  or 
Irish  neighbors";  cultivating  the  most  bountiful 
gardens  and  orchards;  living  frugally,  working  con- 
stantly, fearing  God  and  debt,  and  rearing  large 
families.  * '  A  German  farm  may  be  distinguished, " 
concludes  this  writer,  "from  the  farms  of  other 
citizens  by  the  superior  size  of  their  barns,  the  plain 
but  compact  form  of  their  houses,  the  height  of 
their  enclosures,  the  extent  of  their  orchards,  the 
fertility  of  their  fields,  the  luxuriance  of  their  mead- 
ows, and  a  general  appearance  of  plenty  and  neat- 
ness in  everything  that  belongs  to  them. " r  Rush's 
praise  of  the  German  mechanics  is  not  less  stinted. 
They  were  found  in  that  day  mainly  as  "weavers, 
taylors,  tanners,  shoe-makers,  comb-makers,  smiths 
of  all  kinds,  butchers,  paper  makers,  watchmakers, 

1  An  Account  of  the    Manner*  of  the  German    Inhabitants  of 
Pennsylvania. 


A  GERMAN  FAMILY  AT  ELLIS  ISLAND 


LITHUANIAN 


BOHEMIAN 


GERMAN-HUNG  A  RI.  I N 


Photographs  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 

warm  barns,  while  he  and  his  family  lived  in  a  log 
until  he  was  well  able  to  afford  a  more  comfort- 
able house;  selling  his  "mo«t  profitable  grain, 
which  is  wheat"  and  "eating  that  which  is  less 
profitable  but  more  uourishiag.  that  is,  rye  or  In- 
dian cor^K^Y^ajikeilMilKrf^lMIMl<K?o  that 
"a  German  horse  is  known  in  ;>art  of  the 

State*'  for  his  "extraordinary  siie  or  fa^t*";  clear- 
ing his  land  thoroughly,  not  "a»  hti  K^glfrh  or 
Irish  neighbors";  cultivating  the  most  botiv 
gardens  and  orchards;  living  frugally,  working  con- 
stantly, fearing  God  and  debt,  and  rearing  large 
families.  "  A  German  farm  may  be  distinguished," 
concludes  this  writer,  "from  the  farms  of  other 
citizens  by  t  ho  superior  «ise  of  their  barns,  the  plain 
but  compact  form  of  their  homes,  the  height  of 
their  enclosures,  Uto*AViK*JV\iuU>eir  on-hard*,  the 
fertility  of  their  field*,  the  htxw&HM*  of  '  U;  r  mead- 
ows, and  a  general  appearaiH  <  «i  ptattjr  and  neat- 
ness in  everything  that  belong  to  ti*em  '  '  '  Rush's 
praise  of  the  German  mechanic*  ia  not  lens  stinted. 
They  were  found  in  that  day  oiainiy  as  '  '  weavers, 
taylors,  tanners,  shoe-makers,  «anb-  makers,  smiths 

of  all  kinds,  butchers,  paper  makers,  mtfcLmakers, 

v.i  \-,\t  .,V/.-N  \\-v.i  v 

1  An   Afeouut  of  the    Manner*  tj  tke   German    Inhabitant  f  of 


.'//  J-.iwKl  v.l 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  129 

and  sugar  bakers. "  Their  first  desire  was  "to  be- 
come freeholders, "  and  they  almost  invariably  suc- 
ceeded. German  merchants  and  bankers  also  pros- 
pered in  Philadelphia,  German  town,  Lancaster, 
and  other  Pennsylvania  towns.  One-third  of  the 
population  of  Pennsylvania,  Rush  says,  was  of 
German  origin,  and  for  their  convenience  a  German 
edition  of  the  laws  of  the  State  was  printed. 

After  the  Revolution,  a  number  of  the  Hessian 
hirelings  who  had  been  brought  over  by  the  British 
settled  in  America.  They  usually  became  farmers, 
although  some  of  the  officers  taught  school.  They 
joined  the  German  settlements,  avoiding  the  Eng- 
lish-speaking communities  in  the  United  States 
because  of  the  resentment  shown  towards  them. 
Their  number  is  unknown.  Frederick  Kapp,  a 
German  writer,  estimates  that,  of  the  29,875  sent 
over,  12,562  never  returned  —  but  he  fails  to  tell 
us  how  many  of  these  remained  because  of  Yankee 
bullets  or  bayonets. 

The  second  period  of  German  migration  began 
about  1820  and  lasted  through  the  Civil  War.  Be- 
fore 1830  the  number  of  immigrants  fluctuated  be- 
tween 200  and  2000  a  year;  in  1832  it  exceeded 
10,000;  in  1834  it  was  over  17,000;  three  years  later 
it  reached  nearly  24,000;  between  1845  and  1860 


130  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

there  arrived  1,250,000,  and  200,000  came  during 
the  Civil  War. 

There  were  several  causes,  working  in  close  con- 
junction, that  impelled  these  thousands  to  leave 
Germany.  Economic  disturbances  doubtless  turned 
the  thoughts  of  the  hungry  and  harassed  to  the  land 
of  plenty  across  the  sea.  But  a  potent  cause  of  the 
great  migration  of  the  thirties  and  forties  was  the 
universal  social  and  political  discontent  which  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake  of  the  Napoleonic  wars.  The 
German  people  were  still  divided  into  numberless 
small  feudalities  whose  petty  dukes  and  princes 
clung  tenaciously  to  their  medieval  prerogatives 
and  tyrannies.  The  contest  against  Napoleon  had 
been  waged  by  German  patriots  not  only  to  over- 
come a  foreign  foe  but  to  break  the  tyrant  at  home. 
The  hope  for  constitutional  government,  for  a  re- 
presentative system  and  a  liberal  legislation  in  the 
German  States  rose  mightily  after  Waterloo.  But 
the  promises  of  princes  made  in  days  of  stress  were 
soon  forgotten,  and  the  Congress  of  Vienna  had 
established  the  semblance  of  a  German  federation 
upon  a  unity  of  reactionary  rulers,  not  upon  a 
constitutional,  representative  basis. 

The  reaction  against  this  bitter  disappointment 
was  led  by  the  eager  German  youth,  who,  inspired 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  131 

by  liberal  ideals,  now  thirsted  for  freedom  of 
thought,  of  speech,  and  of  action.  Friedrich  Lud- 
wig  Jahn,  a  German  patriot,  organized  everywhere 
Turnvereine,  or  gymnastic  clubs,  as  a  tangible  form 
of  expressing  this  demand.  Among  the  students 
of  the  universities  liberal  patriotic  clubs  called 
Burschenschaften  were  organized,  idealistic  in  their 
aims  and  impractical  in  their  propaganda,  where 
"every  man  with  his  bonnet  on  his  head,  a  pot  of 
beer  in  his  hand,  a  pipe  or  seegar  in  his  mouth,  and  a 
song  upon  his  lips,  never  doubting  but  that  he  and 
his  companions  are  training  themselves  to  be  the 
regenerators  of  Europe, "  vowed  "the  liberation  of 
Germany."  Alas  for  the  enthusiasms  of  youth! 
In  1817  the  Burschenschaften  held  a  mass  reunion  at 
the  Wartburg.  Their  boyish  antics  were  greatly  ex- 
aggerated hi  the  conservative  papers  and  the  gov- 
ernments increased  their  vigilance.  In  1819  Kotze- 
bue,  a  reactionary  publicist,  was  assassinated  by  a 
member  of  the  Jena  Burschenschaft,  and  the  retalia- 
tion of  the  government  was  prompt  and  thoroughly 
Prussian  —  gagging  of  the  press  and  of  speech,  dis- 
solution of  all  liberal  organizations,  espionage,  the 
hounding  of  all  suspects.  There  seemed  to  remain 
only  flight  to  liberal  democratic  America.  But  the 
suppression  of  the  clubs  did  not  entirely  put  out  the 


132  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

fires  of  constitutional  desires.  These  smoldered 
until  the  storms  of  '48  fanned  them  into  a  fitful 
blaze.  For  a  brief  hour  the  German  Democrat  had 
the  feudal  lords  cowed.  Frederick  William,  the 
"romantic"  Hohenzollern,  promised  a  constitution 
to  the  threatening  mob  in  Berlin;  the  King  of  Sax- 
ony and  the  Grand  Duke  of  Bavaria  fled  their  capi- 
tals; revolts  occurred  in  Silesia,  Posen,  Hesse-Cas- 
sel,  and  Nassau.  Then  struck  the  first  great  hour 
of  modern  Prussia,  as,  with  her  heartless  and  disci- 
plined soldiery,  she  restored  one  by  one  the  fright- 
ened dukes  and  princes  to  their  prerogatives  and 
repressed  relentlessly  and  with  Junker  rigor  every 
liberal  concession  that  had  crept  into  laws  and  in- 
stitutions. Strangled  liberalism  could  no  longer 
breathe  in  Germany,  and  thousands  of  her  revolu- 
tionists fled  to  America,  bringing  with  them  almost 
the  last  vestige  of  German  democratic  leadership. 
In  the  meantime,  economic  conditions  in  Ger- 
many remained  unsatisfactory  and  combined  with 
political  discontent  to  uproot  a  population  and 
transplant  it  to  a  new  land.  The  desire  to  immi- 
grate, stimulated  by  the  transportation  companies, 
spread  like  a  fever.  Whole  villages  sold  out  and, 
with  their  pastor  or  their  physician  at  their  head, 
shipped  for  America.  A  British  observer  who 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  133 

visited  the  Rhine  country  in  1846  commented  on 
"the  long  files  of  carts  that  meet  you  every  mile, 
carrying  the  whole  property  of  these  poor  wretches 
who  are  about  to  cross  the  Atlantic  on  the  faith  of 
a  lying  prospectus. "  But  these  people  were  nei- 
ther "poor  wretches"  nor  dupes.  They  had  coin 
in  their  pockets,  and  in  their  heads  a  more  or  less 
accurate  knowledge  of  the  land  of  their  desires.  At 
this  time  the  German  bookshops  were  teeming  with 
little  volumes  giving,  in  the  methodical  Teutonic 
fashion,  conservative  advice  to  prospective  immi- 
grants and  rather  accurate  descriptions  of  Ameri- 
ca, with  statistical  information  and  abstracts  of  Am- 
erican laws.  Many  of  the  immigrants  had  further 
detailed  information  from  relatives  and  friends  al- 
ready prospering  on  western  farms  or  in  rapidly  grow- 
ing towns.  This  was,  therefore,  far  from  a  pauper 
invasion.  It  included  every  class,  even  broken-down 
members  of  the  nobility.  The  majority  were,  nat- 
urally, peasants  and  artisans,  but  there  were  multi- 
tudes of  small  merchants  and  farmers.  And  the  po- 
litical refugees  included  many  men  of  substantial 
property  and  of  notable  intellectual  attainments. x 

1 J.  6.  Hacker,  a  well-informed  and  prosperous  German  who 
took  the  journey  by  steerage  in  a  sailing  vessel  in  1849,  wrote  an 
instructive  description  of  his  experiences.  Of  his  fellow  passengers 


134  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Bremen  was  the  favorite  port  of  departure  for 
these  German  emigrants  to  America.  Havre, 
Hamburg,  and  Antwerp  were  popular,  and  even 
London.  During  the  great  rush  every  ship  was 
overcrowded  and  none  was  over  sanitary.  Steer- 
age passengers  were  promiscuously  crowded  to- 
gether and  furnished  their  own  food;  and  the  ship's 
crew,  the  captain,  the  agents  who  negotiated  the 
voyage,  and  the  sharks  who  awaited  their  arrival 
in  America,  all  had  a  share  in  preying  upon  the  in- 
experience of  the  immigrants.  Arrived  in  America, 
these  Germans  were  not  content  to  settle,  like 
dregs,  in  the  cities  on  the  seacoast.  They  were 
land  lovers,  and  westward  they  started  at  once,  usu- 
ally in  companies,  sometimes  as  whole  communities, 
by  way  of  the  Erie  Canal  and  the  Great  Lakes, 
and  later  by  the  new  railway  lines,  into  Ohio, 
Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Wisconsin, 
and  Iowa,  where  their  instinct  for  the  soil  taught 
them  to  select  the  most  fertile  spots.  Soon  their  log 
cabins  and  their  ample  barns  and  flourishing  stock 
bespoke  their  success. 

he  said:  "  Our  company  was  very  mixed.  There  were  many  young 
people:  clerks,  artists,  musicians,  architects,  miners,  mechanics, 
men  of  various  professions,  peasants,  one  man  seventy-eight  years 
old,  another  very  aged  Bavarian  farmer,  several  families  of  Jews, 
etc.,  and  a  fair  collection  of  children." 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  135 

The  growing  Western  cities  called  to  the  skilled 
artisan,  the  small  tradesman,  and  the  intellectuals. 
Cincinnati  early  became  a  German  center.  In 
1830  the  Germans  numbered  five  per  cent  of  its 
population;  in  1840,  twenty-three  per  cent;  and  in 
1869,  thirty-four  per  cent.  Milwaukee,  "the  Ger- 
man Athens, "  as  it  was  once  called,  became  the  dis- 
tributing point  of  German  immigration  and  influ- 
ence in  the  Northwest.  Its  Gesangvereine  and  Turn- 
vereine  became  as  famous  as  its  lager  beer»  and 
German  was  heard  more  frequently  than  English 
upon  its  streets.  St.  Louis  was  the  center  of  a  Ger- 
man influence  that  extended  throughout  the  Mis- 
souri Valley.  Cleveland,  Chicago,  Detroit,  Buffalo, 
and  many  of  the  minor  towns  in  the  Middle  West 
received  substantial  additions  from  this  migration. 

Unlike  the  Irish,  the  Germans  brought  with 
them  a  strange  language,  and  this  proved  a  strong 
bond  in  that  German  solidarity  which  maintained 
itself  in  spite  of  the  influence  of  their  new  en- 
vironment. In  the  glow  of  their  first  enthusiasm 
many  of  the  intellectuals  believed  they  could  es- 
tablish a  German  state  in  America.  "The  founda- 
tions of  a  new  and  free  Germany  in  the  great 
North  American  Republic  shall  be  laid  by  us," 
wrote  Follenius,  the  dreamer,  who  desired  to  land 


136  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

enough  Germans  in  "one  of  the  American  terri- 
tories to  establish  an  essentially  German  state." 
In  1833  the  Giessener  Gesellschaft,  a  company  or- 
ganized in  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Hesse,  grew  out  of 
this  suggestion  and  chose  Arkansas  as  the  site  for 
its  colony.  But  unfavorable  reports  turned  the 
immigrants  to  Missouri,  where  settlements  were 
made.  These,  however,  never  grew  into  a  Ger- 
man state  but  merged  quite  contentedly  into  the 
prosperous  American  population. 

A  second  attempt,  also  from  Hesse,  had  a  tragic 
denouement.  A  number  of  German  nobles  formed 
a  company  called  the  Mainzer  Adelsverein  and  in 
1842  sent  two  of  their  colleagues  to  Texas  to  seek 
out  a  site.  The  place  chosen  was  ill-suited  for  a 
colony,  however,  and  the  whole  enterprise  from  be- 
ginning to  end  was  characterized  by  princely  in- 
competence. Thousands  of  immigrants,  lured  by 
the  company's  liberal  offers  and  glowing  prospec- 
tus, soon  found  themselves  in  dire  want;  many  per- 
ished of  disease  and  hunger;  and  the  company  end- 
ed in  ignominious  disaster.  The  surviving  colo- 
nists in  Texas,  however,  when  they  realized  that 
they  must  depend  upon  their  own  efforts,  succeed- 
ed in  finding  work  and  eventually  in  establishing 
several  flourishing  communities. 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  137 

Finally,  Wisconsin  and  Illinois  were  considered 
as  possible  sites  for  a  Germany  in  America.  But 
this  ambition  never  assumed  a  concrete  form. 
Everywhere  the  Americans,  with  their  energy  and 
organizing  capacity,  had  preceded  the  incoming 
Germans  and  retained  the  political  'sovereignty  of 
the  American  state. 

But  while  they  did  not  establish  a  German  state, 
these  immigrants  did  cling  to  their  customs  wher- 
ever they  settled  in  considerable  numbers.  Espe- 
cially did  they  retain  their  original  social  life,  their 
Turnvereine,  their  musical  clubs,  then*  sociable  beer 
gardens,  their  picnics  and  excursions,  their  churches 
and  parochial  schools.  They  still  celebrated  their 
Christmas  and  other  church  festivals  with  Ger- 
man cookery  and  Kuchen,  and  their  weddings 
and  christenings  were  enlivened  but  rarely  de- 
bauched with  generous  libations  of  lager  beer  and 
wine.  In  the  Middle  West  were  whole  regions 
where  German  was  the  familiar  language  for  two 
generations. 

There  were  three  strata  to  this  second  German 
migration.  The  earlier  courses  were  largely  peas- 
ants and  skilled  artisans,  those  of  the  decade  of  the 
Civil  War  were  mostly  of  the  working  classes,  and 
between  these  came  the  "Forty-eighters."  Upon 


138  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

them  all,  however,  peasant,  artisan,  merchant,  and 
intellectual,  their  experiences  in  their  native  land 
had  made  a  deep  impression.  They  all  had  a  back- 
ground of  political  philosophy  the  nucleus  of  which 
was  individual  liberty;  they  all  had  a  violent  dis- 
taste for  the  petty  tyrannies  and  espionages  which 
contact  with  their  own  form  of  government  had 
produced;  and  in  coming  to  America  they  all 
sought,  besides  farms  and  jobs,  political  freedom. 
They  therefore  came  in  humility,  bore  in  patience 
the  disappointments  of  the  first  rough  contacts 
with  pioneer  America  and  its  nativism,  and  few,  if 
any,  cherished  the  hope  of  going  back  to  Germany. 
Though  some  of  the  intellectual  idealists  at  first 
had  indefinite  enthusiasms  about  a  Deutschtum  in 
America,  these  visions  soon  vanished.  They  ex- 
pressed no  love  for  the  governments  they  had 
left,  however  strong  the  cords  of  sentiment  bound 
them  to  the  domestic  and  institutional  customs  of 
their  childhood. 

This  was  to  a  considerable  degree  an  idealistic 
migration  and  as  such  it  had  a  lasting  influence 
upon  American  life.  The  industry  of  these  people 
and  their  thrift,  even  to  paring  economy,  have  of- 
ten been  extolled;  but  other  nationalities  have 
worked  as  hard  and  as  successfully  and  have  spent 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  139 

as  sparingly.  The  special  contribution  to  America 
which  these  Germans  made  lay  in  other  qualities. 
Their  artists  and  musicians  and  actors  planted  the 
first  seeds  of  aesthetic  appreciation  in  the  raw  West 
where  the  repertoire  had  previously  been  limited  to 
Money  Musk,  The  Arkansas  Traveler,  and  Old  Dog 
Tray.  The  liberal  tendencies  of  German  thought 
mellowed  the  austere  Puritanism  of  the  prevalent 
theology.  The  respect  which  these  people  had  for 
intellectual  attainments  potently  influenced  the 
educational  system  of  America  from  the  kinder- 
garten to  the  newly  founded  state  universities. 
Their  political  convictions  led  them  to  espouse  with 
ardor  the  cause  of  the  Union  in  the  war  upon  slav- 
ery; and  their  sturdy  independence  in  partisan  poli- 
tics was  no  small  factor  in  bringing  about  civil 
service  reform.  They  established  German  news- 
papers by  the  hundreds  and  maintained  many  Ger- 
man schools  and  German  colleges.  They  freely  in- 
dulged their  love  for  German  customs.  But  while 
their  sentimentalism  was  German,  their  realism 
was  American.  They  considered  it  an  honor  to 
become  American  citizens.  Their  leaders  became 
American  leaders.  Carl  Schurz  was  not  an  isolated 
example.  He  was  associated  with  a  host  of  able, 
careful,  constructive  Germans. 


140  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  greatest  quarrels  of  these  German  immi- 
grants with  American  ways  were  over  the  so-called 
"Continental  Sabbath  "  and  the  right  to  drink  beer 
when  and  where  they  pleased.  "Only  when  his 
beer  is  in  danger, "  wrote  one  of  the  leading  Forty  - 
eighters, "  does  the  German- American  rouse  himself 
and  become  a  berserker. "  The  great  numbers  of 
these  men  in  many  cities  and  in  some  of  the  West- 
ern States  enabled  them  to  have  German  taught  in 
the  public  schools,  though  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that 
the  underlying  motive  was  liberalism  rather  than 
Prussian  provincialism.  Frederick  Kapp,  a  distin- 
guished interpreter  of  the  spirit  of  these  Forty- 
eighters,  expressed  their  conviction  when  he  said 
that  those  who  cared  to  remain  German  should 
remain  in  Germany  and  that  those  who  came  to 
America  were  under  solemn  obligations  to  become 
Americans. 

The  descendants  of  these  immigrants,  the  second 
and  the  third  and  fourth  generations,  are  now  thor- 
oughly absorbed  into  every  phase  of  American  life. 
Their  national  idiosyncrasies  have  been  modified 
and  subdued  by  the  gentle  but  relentless  per- 
sistence of  the  English  language  and  the  robust 
vigor  of  American  law  and  American  political 
institutions. 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  141 

After  1870  a  great  change  came  over  the  German 
immigration.  More  and  more  industrial  workers, 
but  fewer  and  fewer  peasants,  and  very  rarely  an 
intellectual  or  a  man  of  substance,  now  appeared  at 
Ellis  Island  for  admission  to  the  United  States.1 
The  facilities  for  migrating  were  vastly  increased 
by  the  great  transatlantic  steamship  companies. 
The  new  Germans  came  in  hordes  even  outnumber- 
ing the  migrations  of  the  fifties.  From  1870  to  1910 
over  three  and  a  quarter  millions  arrived.  The 
highest  point  of  the  wave,  however,  was  reached 
in  1882,  when  250,630  German  immigrants  entered 
the  United  States.  Thereafter  the  number  rapid- 
ly subsided;  the  lowest  ebb,  in  1898,  brought  only 
17,111,  but  from  that  time  until  the  Great  War 
the  number  of  annual  arrivals  fluctuated  between 
25,000  and  40,000. 

The  majority  of  those  who  came  in  the  earlier 
part  of  this  period  made  their  way  to  the  Western 
lands.  The  Dakotas,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Iowa, 

1  There  were  three  potent  reasons  for  this  migration:  financial 
stringency,  overpopulation,  and  the  growing  rigor  of  the  military 
service.  Over  ten  thousand  processes  a  year  were  issued  by  the 
German  Government  in  1872  and  1873  for  evasion  of  military 
duty.  Germans  who  had  become  naturalized  American  citizens 
were  arrested  when  they  returned  to  the  Fatherland  for  a  visit 
on  the  charge  of  having  evaded  military  service.  A  treaty  be- 
tween the  two  countries  finally  adjusted  this  difficulty. 


142  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

and  the  Far  West,  still  offered  alluring  opportuni- 
ties. But  as  these  lands  were  gradually  taken,  the 
later  influx  turned  towards  the  cities.  Here  the 
immigrants  not  only  found  employment  in  those 
trades  and  occupations  which  the  Germans  for 
years  had  virtually  monopolized,  but  they  also  be- 
came factory  workers  in  great  numbers,  and  many 
of  them  went  into  the  mining  regions. 

It  soon  became  apparent  that  the  spirit  of  this 
latest  migration  was  very  different  from  that  of  the 
earlier  ones.  "I  do  not  believe,'*  writes  a  well- 
informed  and  patriotic  Lutheran  pastor  in  1917, 
"that  there  is  one  among  a  thousand  that  has  emi- 
grated on  account  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  Ger- 
man Government  during  the  last  forty -five  years. " 
Humility  on  the  part  of  these  newcomers  now  grad- 
ually gave  way  to  arrogance.  Instead  of  appear- 
ing eager  to  embrace  their  new  opportunities,  they 
criticized  everything  they  found  in  their  new  home. 
The  contemptuous  hauteur  and  provincial  egotism 
of  the  modern  Prussian,  loathsome  enough  in  the 
educated,  were  ridiculous  in  the  poor  immigrants. 
Gradually  this  Prussian  spirit  increased.  In  1883 
it  could  still  be  said  of  the  three  hundred  German- 
American  periodicals,  daily,  weekly,  and  monthly, 
that  in  their  tone  they  were  thoroughly  American. 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  143 

But  ten  or  fifteen  years  later  changes  were  appar- 
ent. In  1895  there  were  some  five  hundred  Ger- 
man periodicals  published  in  America,  and  many 
of  the  newer  ones  were  rabidly  Germanophile. 
The  editors  and  owners  of  the  older  publications 
were  dying  out,  and  new  hands  were  guiding  the 
editorial  pens.  Often  when  there  was  no  Ameri- 
can-born German  available,  an  editor  was  import- 
ed fresh  from  Germany.  He  came  as  a  German 
from  a  new  Germany — that  Prussianized  Germany 
which  unmasked  itself  in  August,  1914,  and  which 
included  in  its  dream  of  power  the  unswerving 
and  undivided  loyalty  of  all  Germans  who  had 
migrated.  The  traditional  American  indifference 
and  good  nature  became  a  shield  for  the  Machi- 
avellian editors  who  now  began  to  write  not  for 
the  benefit  of  America  but  for  the  benefit  of  Ger- 
many. Political  scandals,  odious  comparisons  of 
American  and  German  methods,  and  adroit  criti- 
cisms of  American  ways  were  the  daily  pabulum 
fed  to  the  German  reader,  who  was  left  with  the 
impression  that  everything  in  the  United  States 
was  wrong,  while  everything  in  Germany  was 
right.  Before  the  United  States  entered  the  Great 
War,  there  was  a  most  remarkable  unanimity  of 
expression  among  these  German  publications; 


144  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

afterwards,  Congress  found  it  necessary  to  enact 
rigorous  laws  against  them.  As  a  result,  many  of 
them  were  suppressed,  and  many  others  suspended 
publication. 

German  pastors,  also,  were  not  infrequently  im- 
ported and  brought  with  them  the  virus  of  the  new 
Prussianism.  This  they  injected  into  their  con- 
gregations and  especially  into  the  children  who 
attended  their  catechetical  instruction.  German 
"exchange  professors, "  in  addition  to  their  univer- 
sity duties,  usually  made  a  pilgrimage  of  the  cities 
where  the  German  influence  was  strong.  The  fos- 
tering of  the  German  language  became  no  longer 
merely  a  means  of  culture  or  an  appurtenance  to 
business  but  was  insisted  upon  as  a  necessity  to 
keep  alive  the  German  spirit,  der  Deutsche  Geist. 
German  parents  were  warned,  over  and  over  again, 
that  once  their  children  lost  their  language  they 
would  soon  lose  every  active  interest  in  Kultur. 
The  teaching  of  German  in  the  colleges  and  uni- 
versities assumed,  undisguised  and  unashamed, 
the  character  of  Prussian  propaganda.  The  new 
immigrants  from  Germany  were  carefully  protected 
from  the  deteriorating  effect  of  American  contacts, 
and,  unlike  the  preceding  generations  of  German 
immigrants,  they  took  very  little  part  in  politics. 


THE  TEUTONIC  TIDE  145 

Those  who  arrived  after  1900  refused,  usually,  to 
become  naturalized. 

The  diabolical  ingenuity  of  the  German  propa- 
ganda was  subsequently  laid  bare,  and  it  is  known 
today  that  nearly  every  German  club,  church, 
school,  and  newspaper  from  about  1895  onward  was 
being  secretly  marshaled  into  a  powerful  Teutonic 
homogeneity  of  sentiment  and  public  opinion.  The 
Kaiser  boasted  of  his  political  influence  through  the 
German  vote.  The  German-American  League,  in- 
corporated by  Congress,  had  its  branches  in  many 
States.  Millions  of  dollars  were  spent  by  the  Im- 
perial German  Government  to  corrupt  the  millions 
of  German  birth  in  America.  These  disclosures, 
when  they  were  ultimately  made,  produced  in  the 
United  States  a  sharp  and  profound  reaction  against 
everything  Teutonic.  The  former  indifference  com- 
pletely vanished  and  hyphen-hunting  became  a 
popular  pastime.  The  charter  of  the  German- 
American  League  was  revoked  by  Congress.  City 
after  city  took  German  from  its  school  curriculum. 
Teutonic  names  of  towns  and  streets  were  erased  — 
half  a  dozen  Berlins  vanished  overnight  —  and  in 
then*  places  appeared  the  names  of  French,  British, 
and  American  heroes. 

But  though  the  names  might  be  erased,  the 


146  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

German  element  remained.  It  had  become  incor- 
porated into  the  national  bone  and  sinew,  contrib- 
uting its  thoroughness,  stolidity,  and  solidity  to 
the  American  stock.  The  power  of  liberal  politi- 
cal institutions  in  America  has  been  revealed,  and 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  the  .sons  and  grand- 
sons of  German  immigrants  crossed  the  seas  in 
1917  and  1918  to  bear  aloft  the  starry  standard  up- 
on the  fields  of  Flanders  against  the  arrogance  and 
brutality  of  the  neo-Prussians. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE   CALL  OF   THE   LAND 

FOR  over  a  century  after  the  Revolution  the  great 
fact  in  American  life  was  the  unoccupied  land,  that 
vast  stretch  of  expectant  acreage  lying  fallow  in 
the  West.  It  kept  the  American  buoyant,  for  it 
was  an  insurance  policy  against  want.  When  his 
crops  failed  or  his  business  grew  dull,  there  was 
the  West.  When  panic  and  disaster  overtook  him, 
there  remained  the  West.  When  the  family  grew 
too  large  for  the  old  homestead,  the  sons  went  west. 
And  land,  unlimited  and  virtually  free,  was  the 
magnet  that  drew  the  foreign  home  seeker  to  the 
American  shores. 

The  first  public  domain  after  the  formation  of 
the  Union  extended  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the 
Mississippi.  This  area  was  enlarged  and  pushed 
to  the  Rockies  by  the  Louisiana  Purchase  (1803) 
and  was  again  enlarged  and  extended  to  the  Pacific 
by  the  acquisition  of  Oregon  (1846)  and  the  Mexican 

147 


148  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

cession  (1 848) .  The  total  area  of  the  United  States 
from  coast  to  coast  then  comprised  8,025,000* 
square  miles,  of  which  over  two-thirds  were  at  one 
time  or  another  public  domain.  Before  the  close 
of  the  Civil  War  the  Government  had  disposed  of 
nearly  four  hundred  million  acres  but  still  retained 
hi  its  possession  an  area  three  times  as  great  as  the 
whole  of  the  territory  which  had  been  won  from 
Great  Britain  in  the  Revolution. 

The  public  domain  was  at  first  looked  upon  as  a 
source  of  revenue,  and  a  minimum  price  was  fixed 
by  law  at  $2  an  acre,  though  this  rate  was  subse- 
quently (1820)  lowered  to  $1.25  an  acre.  The 
West  always  wanted  liberal  land  laws,  but  the 
South  before  the  Civil  War,  fearing  that  the  growth 
of  the  West  would  give  the  North  superior  strength, 
opposed  any  such  generosity.  When  the  North 
dominated  Congress,  the  Homestead  Law  of  1862, 
providing  that  any  person,  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
who  was  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  or  who  had 
declared  his  intention  of  becoming  one,  could  ob- 
tain title  to  160  acres  of  land  by  living  upon  it  five 
years,  making  certain  improvements,  and  paying 
the  entry  fee  of  ten  dollars. 

1  Oberholtzer,  History  of  the  United  State*  tint*  the  Civil  War, 
vol.  I,  p.  275. 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND  149 

The  Government  laid  out  its  vast  estate  in 
townships  six  miles  square,  which  it  subdivided 
into  sections  of  640  acres  and  quarter  sections  of 
160  acres.  The  quarter  section  was  regarded  as 
the  public  land  unit  and  was  the  largest  amount 
permitted  for  individual  preemption  and  later 
for  a  homestead.  Thus  was  the  whole  world  in- 
vited to  go  west.  Under  the  new  law,  1,160,000 
acres  were  taken  up  in  1865.  *  The  settler  no  longer 
had  to  suffer  the  wearisome,  heart-breaking  tasks 
that  confronted  the  pioneer  of  earlier  years,  for 
the  railway  and  steamboat  had  for  some  time 
taken  the  place  of  the  Conestoga  wagon  and  the 
fitful  sailboat. 

But  the  movement  by  railway  and  by  steamboat 
was  merely  a  continuation  on  a  greater  scale  of  what 
had  been  going  on  ever  since  the  Revolution.  The 
westward  movement  was  begun,  as  we  have  seen, 
not  by  foreigners  but  by  American  farmers  and 
settlers  from  seaboard  and  back  country,  thousands 
of  whom,  before  the  dawn  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, packed  their  household  goods  and  families 
into  covered  wagons  and  followed  the  sunset  trail. 

The  vanguard  of  this  westward  march  was  Amer- 
ican, but  foreign  immigrants  soon  began  to  mingle 

1  Oberholtzer,  supra  cit,,  p.  278. 


150  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

with  the  caravans.  At  first  these  newcomers  who 
heard  the  far  call  of  the  West  were  nearly  all  from 
the  British  Isles.  Indeed  so  great  was  the  exodus 
of  these  farmers  that  in  1816  the  British  journals 
in  alarm  asked  Parliament  to  check  the  "ruinous 
drain  of  the  most  useful  part  of  the  population 
of  the  United  Kingdom."  Public  meetings  were 
held  in  Great  Britain  to  discuss  the  average  man's 
prospect  in  the  new  country.  Agents  of  land  com- 
panies found  eager  crowds  gathered  to  learn  parti- 
culars. Whole  neighborhoods  departed  for  Amer- 
ica. In  order  to  stop  the  exodus,  the  newspapers 
dwelt  upon  the  hardship  of  the  voyage  and  the  ex- 
cesses of  the  Americans.  But,  until  Australia, 
New  Zealand,  and  Canada  began  to  deflect  migra- 
tion, the  stream  to  the  United  States  from  England, 
Scotland,  and  Wales  was  constant  and  copious. 
Between  1820  and  1910  the  number  coming  from 
Ireland  was  4,212,169,  from  England  2,212,071, 
from  Scotland  488,749,  and  from  Wales  59,540. 

What  proportion  of  this  host  found  their  way  to 
the  farms  is  not  known. x  In  the  earlier  years,  the 

1  The  census  of  1910  discloses  the  fact  that  of  the  6,361,502 
farms  in  the  United  States  75  per  cent  were  operated  by  native 
white  Americans  and  only  10.5  per  cent  by  foreign  born  whites. 
The  foreign  born  were  distributed  as  follows:  Austria,  33,336; 
Hungary.  3827;  England,  39,728;  Ireland,  33,480;  Scotland, 


SLOVAK  GIRLS 


A   GIRL  FROM  SOUTHER*  IT  A  LI 


Photographs  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 


150  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

i  the  caravans.     At  firs  -omers  who 

heard  the  far  call  of  the  West  were  nearly  all  from 
the  British  Isles.  Indeed  so  great  was  the  exodus 
of  these  fanners  that  in  It  British  journals 

in  alarm  asked  Parliam  'beck  the  "ruinous 

drain  of  the  roost  useful  part  of  the  population 
of  the  <  KingdaAftTO  WM&  meetings  were 

held  in  <ir<>at  Britain  t^  an's 

prospect  in  the  new  country.     Agents  of  land  com- 
panies found  eager  crowds  gathered  to  learn  parti- 
culars.    Whole  neighborhoods  departed  for  Amer- 
ica.    In  order  to  stop  the  exodus,  the  newspapers 
dwelt  upon  the  hardship  of  the  voyage  and  the  ex- 
ceases  of  the  American*.     But,   until  Australia, 
New  Ze*buftd,  Mid  Canada  began  to  deflect  migra- 
te (  ailed  States  from  England, 
Scotland,  and  Wales  was  constant  and  copious. 
Between  1820  and  1910  the  number  <  omittf  from 
Ireland  was  4,212,169,  from  England  v.*H,071, 
from  Scotland  438,749,  and  from  Wa^*  59,540. 
What  proportion  of  this  host  found  their  way  to 
farms  is  not  known.  '     In  ti  r  years,  the 


[\\.-\\   Y.iVMVVVv  \V.v.)   1. 

i*  *nsus  of  1910  disclose*  tbe  fact  that  of  the  6,391,602 
farm*  n  the  United  States  75  per  eeat  VT-,-  operated  by  native 
white  Americans  and  only  10.5  per  cent  by  foreign  born  white*. 
The  for*if«  born  were  distributed  M  follows:  Austria,  8S.3S8; 
Hungary.  38«7;  England,  89,798;  Ireland,  33,480;  Scotland, 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND  151 

majority  of  the  English  and  Scotch  sought  the  land. 
In  western  New  York,  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
and  contiguous  States  there  were  many  Scotch  and 
English  neighborhoods  established  before  the  Civil 
War.  Since  1870,  however,  the  incoming  British 
have  provided  large  numbers  of  skilled  mechanics 
and  miners,  and  the  Welsh,  also,  have  been  drawn 
largely  to  the  coal  mines. 

The  French  Revolution  drove  many  notables  to 
exile  in  the  United  States,  and  several  attempts 
were  made  at  colonization.  The  names  Gallipolis 
and  Gallia  County,  Ohio,  bear  witness  to  their 
French  origin.  Gallipolis  was  settled  in  1790  by 
adventurers  from  Havre,  Bordeaux,  Nantes,  La 
Rochelle,  and  other  French  cities.  The  colony  was 
promoted  in  France  by  Joel  Barlow,  an  Ananias 
even  among  land  sharks,  representing  the  Scioto 
Land  Company,  or  Companie  du  Scioto,  one  of  the 
numerous  speculative  concerns  that  early  sought  to 
capitalize  credulity  and  European  ignorance  of  the 
West.  The  Company  had,  in  fact,  no  title  to  the 
lands,  and  the  wretched  colonists  found  themselves 


10,220;  Wales,  4110;  France,  5832;  Germany,  221,800;  Holland, 
13,790;  Italy,  10,614;  Russia,  25,788;  Poland,  7228;  Denmark, 
28,375;  Norway,  59,742;  Sweden,  67,453;  Switzerland,  14,333; 
Canada,  61,878. 


152  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

stranded  in  a  wilderness  for  whose  conquest  they 
were  unsuited.  Of  the  colonists  McMaster  says: 
"Some  could  build  coaches,  some  could  make 
perukes,  some  could  carve,  others  could  gild  with 
such  exquisite  carving  that  their  work  had  been 
thought  not  unworthy  of  the  King."1  Congress 
came  to  the  relief  of  these  unfortunate  people  in 
1795  and  granted  them  twenty-four  thousand 
acres  in  Ohio.  The  town  they  founded  never  fully 
realized  their  early  dreams,  but,  after  a  bitter 
struggle,  it  survived  the  log  cabin  days  and  was  lat- 
er honored  by  a  visit  from  Louis  Philippe  and  from 
Lafayette.  Very  few  descendants  of  the  French 
colonists  share  in  its  present-day  prosperity. 

The  majority  of  the  French  who  came  to  Amer- 
ica after  1820  were  factory  workers  and  profes- 
sional people  who  remained  in  the  cities.  There 
are  great  numbers  of  French  Canadians  in  the 
factory  towns  of  New  England.  There  are,  too, 
French  colonies  in  America  whose  inhabitants  can- 
not be  rated  as  foreigners,  for  their  ancestors  were 
veritable  pioneers.  Throughout  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  such  French  settlements  as  Kaskaskia, 
Prairie  du  Rocher,  Cahokia,  and  others  have  left 
much  more  than  a  geographical  designation  and 

1  History  of  the  People  of  the  United  State*,  vol.  vii,  p.  203. 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND  153 

have  preserved  an  old  world  aroma  of  quaintness 
and  contentment. 

Swiss  immigrants,  to  the  number  of  about  250,- 
000  and  over  175,000  Dutch  have  found  homes  in 
America.  The  majority  of  the  Swiss  came  from 
the  German  cantons  of  Switzerland.  They  have 
large  settlements  in  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  and  Cali- 
fornia, where  they  are  very  successful  in  dairying 
and  stock  raising.  The  Hollanders  have  taken 
root  chiefly  in  western  Michigan,  between  the  Kala- 
mazoo  and  Grand  rivers,  on  the  deep  black  bottom 
lands  suitable  for  celery  and  market  gardening. 
The  town  of  Holland  there,  with  its  college  and 
churches,  is  the  center  of  Dutch  influence  in  the 
United  States.  Six  of  the  eleven  Dutch  periodicals 
printed  in  America  are  issued  from  Michigan,  and 
the  majority  of  newcomers  (over  80,000  have  ar- 
rived since  1900)  have  made  their  way  to  that 
State.  These  sturdy  and  industrious  people  from 
Holland  and  Switzerland  readily  adapt  themselves 
to  American  life. 

No  people  have  answered  the  call  of  the  land  in 
recent  years  as  eagerly  as  have  the  Scandinavians. 
These  modern  vikings  have  within  one  generation 
peopled  a  large  part  of  the  great  American  North- 
west. In  1850  there  were  only  eighteen  thousand 


154  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Scandinavians  in  the  United  States.  The  tide  rose 
rapidly  in  the  sixties  and  reached  its  height  in  the 
eighties,  until  over  two  million  Scandinavian  immi- 
grants have  made  America  their  home.  They  and 
their  descendants  form  a  very  substantial  part  of  the 
rural  population.  There  are  nearly  half  as  many 
Norwegians  in  America  as  in  Norway,  which  has 
emptied  a  larger  proportion  of  its  population  into 
the  American  lap  than  any  other  country  save  Ire- 
land. About  one-fourth  of  the  world's  Swedes 
and  over  one-tenth  of  the  world's  Danes  dwell 
in  America. 

The  term  Scandinavian  is  here  used  in  the  loose 
sense  to  embrace  the  peoples  of  the  two  peninsulas 
where  dwell  the  Danes,  the  Norwegians,  and  the 
Swedes.  These  three  branches  of  the  same  family 
have  much  in  common,  though  for  many  years  they 
objected  to  being  thus  rudely  shaken  together  into 
one  ethnic  measure.  The  Swede  is  the  aristocrat, 
the  Norwegian  the  democrat,  the  Dane  the  conserv- 
ative. The  Swede,  polite,  vivacious,  fond  of  music 
and  literature,  is  "the  Frenchman  of  the  North," 
the  Norwegian  is  a  serious  viking  in  modern  dress; 
the  Dane  remains  a  landsman,  devoted  to  his  fields, 
and  he  is  more  amenable  than  his  northern  kinsmen 
to  the  cultural  influence  of  the  South. 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND  155 

The  Norwegian,  true  to  viking  traditions,  led 
the  modern  exodus.  In  1825  the  sloop  Restoration, 
the  Mayflower  of  the  Norse,  landed  a  band  of  fifty- 
three  Norwegian  Quakers  on  Manhattan.  These 
peasants  settled  at  first  in  western  New  York. 
But  within  a  few  years  most  of  them  removed  to 
Fox  River,  Illinois,  whither  were  drawn  most  of 
the  Norwegians  who  migrated  before  1850.  After 
the  Civil  War,  the  stream  rapidly  rose,  until  nearly 
seven  hundred  thousand  persons  of  Norwegian 
birth  have  settled  in  America. 

The  Swedish  migration  started  in  1841,  when 
Gustavus  Unonius,  a  former  student  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Upsala,  founded  the  colony  of  Pine  Lake, 
near  Milwaukee.  His  followers  have  been  de- 
scribed as  a  strange  assortment  of  "noblemen,  ex- 
army  officers,  merchants,  and  adventurers, "  whose 
experiences  and  talents  were  not  of  the  sort  that 
make  pioneering  successful.  Frederika  Bremer, 
the  noted  Swedish  traveler,  has  left  a  description  of 
the  little  cluster  of  log  huts  and  the  handful  of  peo- 
ple who  "had  taken  with  them  the  Swedish  inclina- 
tion for  hospitality  and  a  merry  life,  without  suffic- 
iently considering  how  long  it  could  last. "  Their 
experiences  form  a  romantic  prelude  to  the  great 
Swedish  migration,  which  reached  its  height  in  the 


156  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

eighties.  Today  the  Swedes  form  the  largest  ele- 
ment in  the  Scandinavian  influx,  for  well  over  one 
million  have  migrated  to  the  United  States. 

Nearly  three  hundred  thousand  persons  of  Dan- 
ish blood  have  come  into  the  country  since  the  Civil 
War.  A  large  number  migrated  from  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  after  the  forcible  annexation  of  that  prov- 
ince by  Prussia  in  1866,  preferring  the  freedom  of 
America  to  the  tyranny  of  Berlin. 

Whatever  distinctions  in  language  and  customs 
may  have  characterized  these  Northern  peoples, 
they  had  one  ambition  in  common  —  the  desire  to 
own  tillable  land.  So  they  made  of  the  Northwest 
a  new  Scandinavia,  larger  and  far  more  prosperous 
than  that  which  Gustavus  Adolphus  had  planned 
in  colonial  days  for  his  colony  in  Delaware.  One 
can  travel  today  three  hundred  miles  at  a  stretch 
across  the  prairies  of  the  Dakotas  or  the  fields  of 
Minnesota  without  leaving  land  that  is  owned  by 
Scandinavians.  They  abound  also  in  Wisconsin, 
Northern  Illinois,  Eastern  Nebraska,  and  Kansas, 
and  Northern  Michigan .  Latterly  the  lands  of  Ore- 
gon and  Washington  are  luring  them  by  the  thou- 
sands, while  throughout  the  remaining  West  there 
are  scattered  many  prosperous  farms  cultivated  by 
representatives  of  this  hardy  race.  Latterly  this 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND     ,        157 

stream  of  Scandinavians  has  thinned  to  about  one- 
half  its  former  size.  In  1910, 48,000  came;  in  1911, 
42,000;  in  1912,  27,000;  in  1913,  33,000.  The  later 
immigrant  is  absorbed  by  the  cities,  or  sails  upon 
the  Great  Lakes  or  in  the  coastwise  trade,  or  work* 
in  lumber  camps  or  mines.  Wherever  you  find  a 
Scandinavian,  however,  he  is  working  close  to  na- 
ture, even  though  he  is  responding  to  the  call  of 
the  new  industry. 

It  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  among  competent 
observers  that  these  northern  peoples  have  been 
the  most  useful  of  the  recent  great  additions  to  the 
American  race.  They  were  particularly  fitted  by 
nature  for  the  conquest  of  the  great  area  which 
they  have  brought  under  subjugation,  not  merely 
because  of  their  indomitable  industry,  perseverance, 
honesty,  and  aptitude  for  agriculture,  but  because 
they  share  with  the  Englishman  and  the  Scotch- 
man the  instinct  for  self-government.  Above  all, 
the  Scandinavian  has  never  looked  upon  himself  as 
an  exile.  From  the  first  he  has  considered  himself 
an  American.  In  Minnesota  and  Dakota,  the 
Norse  pioneer  often  preceded  local  government. 
"Whenever  a  township  became  populous  enough  to 
have  a  name  as  well  as  a  number  on  the  surveyor's 
map,  that  question  was  likely  to  be  determined  by 


158  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

the  people  on  the  ground,  and  such  names  as  Chris- 
tiana, Swede  Plain,  Numedal,  Throndhjem,  and 
Vasa  leave  no  doubt  that  Scandinavians  officiated 
at  the  christening. "  These  people  proceeded  with 
the  organizing  of  the  local  government  and,  "ex- 
cept for  the  peculiar  names,  no  one  would  suspect 
that  the  town-makers  were  born  elsewhere  than  in 
Massachusetts  or  New  York. " r  This,  too,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  they  continued  the  use  of  their 
mother  tongue,  for  not  infrequently  election  notices 
and  even  civic  ordinances  and  orders  were  issued 
in  Norwegian  or  Swedish.  In  1893  there  were  146 
Scandinavian  newspapers,  and  their  number  has 
since  greatly  increased. 

In  politics  the  Norseman  learned  his  lesson  quick- 
ly. Governors,  senators,  and  representatives 
in  Congress  give  evidence  to  a  racial  clannish- 
ness  that  has  more  than  once  proven  stronger  than 
party  allegiance.  Yet  with  all  their  influence 
in  the  Northwest,  they  have  not  insisted  on  un- 
reasonable race  recognition,  as  have  the  Germans 
in  Wisconsin  and  other  localities.  Minnesota  and 
Dakota  have  established  classes  in  "the  Scan- 
dinavian language"  in  their  state  universities, 

1  K.  C.  Babcock,  The  Scandinavian  Element  in  the  United  Statet. 
p.  143. 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND  159 

evidently  leaving  it  to  be  decided  as  an  aca- 
demic question  which  is  the  Scandinavian  lan- 
guage. Without  brilliance,  producing  few  leaders, 
the  Norseman  represents  the  rugged  common- 
place of  American  life,  avoiding  the  catastrophes 
of  a  soaring  ambition  on  the  one  hand  and  the  pit- 
falls of  a  jaded  temperamentalism  on  the  other. 
Bent  on  self-improvement,  he  scrupulously  patro- 
nizes farmers'  institutes,  high  schools,  and  exten- 
sion courses,  and  listens  with  intelligent  patience 
to  lectures  that  would  put  an  American  audience 
to  sleep.  This  son  of  the  North  has  greatly  but- 
tressed every  worthy  American  institution  with 
the  stern  traditional  virtues  of  the  tiller  of  the  soil. 
Strength  he  gives,  if  not  grace,  and  that  at  a  time 
when  all  social  institutions  are  being  shaken  to 
their  foundations. 

Among  the  early  homesteaders  in  the  upper  Mis- 
sissippi Valley  there  were  a  substantial  number  of 
Bohemians.  In  Nebraska  they  comprise  nine  per 
cent  of  the  foreign  born  population,  in  Oklahoma 
seven  per  cent,  and  in  Texas  over  six  per  cent. 
They  began  migrating  in  the  turbulent  forties. 
They  were  nearly  all  of  the  peasant  class,  neat,  in- 
dustrious and  intelligent,  and  they  usually  settled 
in  colonies  where  they  retained  their  native  tongue 


160  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

and  customs.  They  were  opposed  to  slavery  and 
many  enlisted  in  the  Union  cause. 

Among  the  Polish  immigrants  who  came  to  Amer- 
ica before  1870,  many  settled  on  farms  in  Illinois, 
Wisconsin,  Texas,  and  other  States.  They  proved 
much  more  clannish  than  the  Bohemians  and  more 
reluctant  to  conform  to  American  customs. 

Many  farms  in  the  Northwest  are  occupied  by 
Finns,  of  whom  there  were  in  1910  over  two  hun- 
dred thousand  in  the  United  States.  They  are  a 
Tatar  race,  with  a  copious  sprinkling  of  Swedish 
blood.  Illiteracy  is  rare  among  them.  They  are 
eager  patrons  of  night  schools  and  libraries  and 
have  a  flourishing  college  near  Duluth.  They  are 
eager  for  citizenship  and  are  independent  in  poli- 
tics. The  glittering  generalities  of  Marxian  social- 
ism seem  peculiarly  alluring  to  them;  and  not  a  few 
have  joined  the  I.  W.  W.  Drink  has  been  their 
curse,  but  a  strong  temperance  movement  has  re- 
cently made  rapid  headway  among  them.  They 
are  natural  woodmen  and  wield  the  axe  with  the 
skill  of  our  own  frontiersmen.  Their  peculiar 
houses,  made  of  neatly  squared  logs,  are  features 
of  every  Finnish  settlement.  All  of  the  North 
European  races  and  a  few  from  Southern  and  East- 
ern Europe  have  contributed  to  the  American  rural 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  LAND  161 

population;  yet  the  Census  of  1910  disclosed  the 
fact  that  of  the  6,361,502  white  farm  operators 
in  the  United  States,  75  per  cent  were  native 
American  and  only  10.5  per  cent  were  foreign  born. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  CITY  BUILDERS 

"WHAT  will  happen  to  immigration  when  the  pub- 
lic domain  has  vanished?'*  was  a  question  fre- 
quently asked  by  thoughtful  American  citizens. 
The  question  has  been  answered:  the  immigrant 
has  become  a  job  seeker  in  the  city  instead  of 
a  home  seeker  in  the  open  country.  The  last 
three  decades  have  witnessed  "the  portentous 
growth  of  the  cities "  —  and  they  are  cities  of  a 
new  type,  cities  of  gigantic  factories,  towering 
skyscrapers,  electric  trolleys,  telephones,  automo- 
biles, and  motor  trucks,  and  of  fetid  tenements 
swarming  with  immigrants.  The  immigrants, 
too,  are  of  a  new  type.  When  Henry  James 
revisited  Boston  after  a  long  absence,  he  was 
shocked  at  the  "gross  little  foreigners'*  who  in- 
fested its  streets,  and  he  said  it  seemed  as  if  the 
fine  old  city  had  been  wiped  with  "a  sponge  satu- 
rated with  the  foreign  mixture  and  passed  over 

162 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  163 

almost  everything  I  remembered  and  might  have 
still  recovered."1 

Until  1882  the  bulk  of  immigration,  as  we  have 
seen,  came  from  the  north  of  Europe,  and  these 
immigrants  were  kinsmen  to  the  American  and  for 
the  most  part  sought  the  country.  The  new  immi- 
gration, however,  which  chiefly  sought  the  cities, 
hailed  from  southern  and  eastern  Europe.  It  has 
shown  itself  alien  in  language,  custom,  in  ethnic 
affinities  and  political  concepts,  in  personal  stand- 
ards and  assimilative  ambitions.  These  immigrants 
arrived  usually  in  masculine  hordes,  leaving  women 
and  children  behind,  clinging  to  their  own  kind  with 
an  apprehensive  mistrust  of  all  things  American,  and 
filled  with  the  desire  to  extract  from  this  fabulous 
mine  as  much  gold  as  possible  and  then  to  return 
to  their  native  villages.  Yet  a  very  large  number 
of  those  who  have  gone  home  to  Europe  have  re- 
turned to  America  with  bride  or  family .  As  a  result 
the  larger  cities  of  the  United  States  are  congeries 
of  foreign  quarters,  whose  alarming  fecundity  fills 
the  streets  with  progeny  and  whose  polyglot  chat- 
ter on  pay  night  turns  even  many  a  demure  New 
England  town  into  a  veritable  babel. 

1  This  lament  of  Henry  James's  is  cited  by  E.  A.  Ross  in  The 
Old  World  in  the  New,  p.  101. 


164  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

There  are  in  the  United  States  today  roughly 
eight  or  ten  millions  of  these  new  immigrants.  A 
line  drawn  southward  from  Minneapolis  to  St. 
Louis  and  thence  eastward  to  Washington  would 
embrace  over  four-fifths  of  them,  for  most  of  the 
great  American  cities  lie  in  this  northeastern  corner 
of  the  land.  Whence  come  these  millions?  From 
the  vast  and  mysterious  lands  of  the  Slavs,  from 
Italy,  from  Greece,  and  from  the  Levant. 

The  term  Slav  covers  a  welter  of  nationalities 
whose  common  ethnic  heritage  has  long  been  con- 
cealed under  religious,  geographical,  and  political 
diversities  and  feuds.  They  may  be  divided  into 
North  Slavs,  including  Bohemians,  Poles,  Ruthen- 
ians,  Slovaks,  and  "Russians,"  and  South  Slavs, 
including  Bulgarians,  Serbians  and  Montenegrins, 
Croatians,  Slovenians,  and  Dalmatians.  As  one 
writer  on  these  races  says,  "It  is  often  impossible 
hi  America  to  distinguish  these  national  groups. . . . 
Yet  the  differences  are  there.  ...  In  American 
communities  they  have  their  different  churches, 
societies,  newspapers,  and  a  separate  social  life.  .  .  . 
The  Pole  wastes  no  love  on  the  Russian,  nor  the 
Ruthenian  on  the  Pole,  and  a  person  who  acts  in 
ignorance  of  these  facts,  a  missionary  for  instance, 
or  a  political  boss,  or  a  trade  union  organizer,  may 


RUSSIAN  TYPES 
Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 


A  HEBREW  PATRIARCH 

Photograph    by    Lewis     W.    Hine    for    Special    Survey     Mission, 
American  Red  Cross,  and  for  Pittsburgh  Survey. 


ARMENIAN  REFUGEES 

. 

Photograph  copyright  by  Underwood  and  Under\ 
New  York. 


164  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

There  are  in  the  United  States  today  roughly 
eight  or  ten  millions  of  these  new  immigrants.  A 
line  drawn  southward  from  Minneapolis  to  St. 
Louis  and  thence  eastward  to  Washington  would 

'  \'\  1  \    V  I  \f •'   ^ *A 

embrace  over  four-nftns  of  them,  for  most  of  the 
great  Amerffim  cities  nem  iBSianortheastern  corner 
of  the  land.  Whence  come  these  millions?  From 
the  vast  and  mysterious  lands  of  the  Slavs,  from 
Italy,  from  Greece,  and  from  the  Levant. 

The  term  Slav  covers  a  welter  of  nationalities 
whose  common  ethnic  heritage  has  long  been  con- 
cealed under  religious,  geographical,  and  political 
diversities  and  feuds.  They  may  be  divided  into 
North  Slavs,^Mi|^n«fcaiiBiM,  Poles,  Ruthen- 
i«i  JMW>J*^$o*^£tos, 


Croatia  us,  Slovenians,  and  Dalmatians.  As  one 
writer  on  these  races  says,  "It  is  often  impossible 
in  America  to  distinguish  these  national  groups. . . . 
Yet  the  differences  are  there.  ...  In  American 
communities  they  have  their  different  churches, 
societies,  newspapers,  and  a  separate  social  life.  .  .  . 
The  Pole  wa»«ftPa^tftvfeM»aft&  Russian,  nor  the 
Kul^Wrf«-i)ta4b^iH^UjMW^^(*i«wttoliacts  in 
ignorance  of  these  facts,  a  missionary  for  instance, 
or  a  political  boss,  or  a  trade  union  organizer,  may 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  165 

find  himself  in  the  position  of  a  host  who  should 
innocently  invite  a  Fenian  from  Cork  County  to 
hobnob  with  an  Ulster  Orangeman  on  the  ground 
that  both  were  Irish."1 

The  Bohemians  (including  the  Moravians)  are 
the  most  venturesome  and  the  most  enlightened 
of  the  great  Slav  family.  Many  of  them  came  to 
America  in  the  seventeenth  century  as  religious 
pilgrims;  more  came  as  political  refugees  after 
1848;  and  since  1870,  they  have  come  in  larger 
numbers,  seeking  better  economic  conditions.  All 
told,  they  numbered  over  220,000,  from  which  it 
may  be  estimated  that  there  are  probably  today 
half  a  million  persons  of  Bohemian  parentage  in  the 
United  States.  Chicago  alone  shelters  over  100,000 
of  these  people,  and  Cleveland  45,000.  These  im- 
migrants as  a  rule  own  the  neat,  box-like  houses 
in  which  they  live,  where  flower-pots  and  tiny 
gardens  bespeak  a  lov.e  of  growing  things,  and  lace 
curtains,  carpets,  and  center  tables  testify  to  the 
influence  of  an  American  environment.  The  Bo- 
hemians are  much  given  to  clubs,  lodges,  and  so- 
cieties, which  usually  have  rooms  over  Bohemian 
saloons.  The  second  generation  is  prone  to  free 
thinking  and  has  a  weakness  for  radical  socialism. 

1  Emily  Greene  Balch,  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  p.  8-9. 


166  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  Bohemians  are  assiduous  readers,  and  illit- 
eracy is  almost  unknown  among  them.  They  sup- 
port many  periodicals  and  several  thriving  pub- 
lishing houses.  They  cling  to  their  language  with 
a  religious  fervor.  Their  literature  and  the  his- 
tory which  it  preserves  is  their  pride.  Yet  this  love 
of  their  own  traditions  is  no  barrier,  apparent- 
ly, to  forming  strong  attachments  to  American 
institutions.  The  Bohemians  are  active  in  politics, 
and  in  the  cities  where  they  congregate  they  see 
that  they  have  their  share  of  the  public  offices. 
There  are  more  highly  skilled  workmen  among 
them  than  are  to  be  found  in  any  other  Slavic 
group;  and  the  second  generation  of  Bohemians  in 
America  has  produced  many  brilliant  professional 
men  and  successful  business  men.  As  one  writer 
puts  it:  "The  miracle  which  America  works  upon 
the  Bohemians  is  more  remarkable  than  any  other 
of  our  national  achievements.  The  downcast  look 
so  characteristic  of  them  in  Prague  is  nearly  gone, 
the  surliness  and  unfriendliness  disappear,  and  the 
young  Bohemian  of  the  second  or  third  genera- 
tion is  as  frank  and  open  as  his  neighbor  with  his 
Anglo-Saxon  heritage."1 

The  bitter  political  and  racial  suppression  that 

1  Edward  A.  Steiner,  On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant,  p.  228. 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  167 

made  the  Bohemian  surly  and  defiant  seem,  on  the 
other  hand,  to  have  left  the  Polish  peasant  stolid, 
patient,  and  very  illiterate.  Polish  settlements 
were  made  in  Texas  and  Wisconsin  in  the  fifties 
and  before  1880  a  large  number  of  Poles  were 
scattered  through  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and 
Illinois.  Since  then  great  numbers  have  come  over 
in  the  new  migrations  until  today,  it  is  estimated, 
at  least  three  million  persons  of  Polish  parent- 
age live  in  the  United  States.1  The  men  in  the 
earlier  migrations  frequently  settled  on  the  land; 
the  recent  comers  hasten  to  the  mines  and  the  met- 
al working  centers,  where  their  strong  though  un- 
trained hands  are  in  constant  demand. 

The  majority  of  the  Poles  have  come  to  America 
to  stay.  They  remain,  however,  very  clannish  and 
according  to  the  Federal  Industrial  Commission, 
without  the  "desire  to  fuse  socially."  The  recent 
Polish  immigrant  is  very  circumscribed  in  his  men- 
tal horizon,  clings  tenaciously  to  his  language, 
which  he  hears  exclusively  in  his  home  and  his 

1  This  is  an  estimate  made  by  the  Reverend  W.  X.  Kruszka 
of  Ripon,  Wisconsin,  as  reported  by  E.  G.  Balch  in  Our  Slavic 
Fellow  Citizens,  p.  262.  Of  this  large  number,  Chicago  claims 
350,000;  New  York  City,  250,000;  Buffalo,  80,000;  Milwaukee, 
75,000;  Detroit,  75,000;  while  at  least  a  dozen  other  cities  have 
substantial  Polish  settlements.  These  numbers  include  the 
suburbs  of  each  city. 


168  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

church,  his  lodge,  and  his  saloon,  and  is  unrespon- 
sive to  his  American  environment.  Not  until  the 
second  and  third  generation  is  reached  does  the 
spirit  of  American  democracy  make  headway 
against  his  lethal  stolidity.  Now  that  Poland  has 
been  made  free  as  a  result  of  the  Great  War,  it 
may  be  that  the  Pole's  inherited  indifference  will 
give  way  to  national  aspirations  and  that,  in  the 
resurrection  of  his  historic  hope  of  freedom,  he 
will  find  an  animating  stimulant. 

The  Pole,  however,  is  more  independent  and 
progressive  than  the  Slovak,  his  brother  from  the 
northeastern  corner  of  Hungary.  For  many  genera- 
tions this  segment  of  the  Slav  race  has  been  piti- 
fully crushed.  Turks,  Magyars,  and  Huns  have 
taken  ^delight  in  oppressing  him.  An  early,  spo- 
radic migration  of  Slovaks  to  America  received  a 
sudden  impulse  in  1882.  About  200,000  have  come 
since  then,  and  perhaps  twice  that  number  of  per- 
sons of  Slovak  blood  now  dwell  in  the  mining 
and  industrial  centers  of  the  United  States.  Many 
of  them,  however,  return  to  their  native  villages. 
They  keep  aloof  from  things  American  and  only 
too  often  prefer  to  live  in  squalor  and  ignorance. 
Their  social  life  is  centered  in  the  church,  the 
saloon,  and  the  lodge.  It  is  asserted  that  their 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  169 

numerous  organizations  have  a  membership  of 
over  100,000,  and  that  there  were  almost  as  many 
Slovak  newspapers  in  America  as  in  Hungary. * 

Little  Russia,  the  seat  of  turmoil,  is  the  home 
of  the  Ruthenians,  or  Ukranians.  They  are  also 
found  in  southeastern  Galicia,  northern  Hungary, 
and  in  the  province  of  Bukowina.  They  have  mi- 
grated from  all  these  provinces  and  about  350,000, 
it  is  estimated,  now  reside  in  the  United  States. 
They,  too,  are  birds  of  passage,  working  in  the 
mines  and  steel  mills  for  the  coveted  wages  that 
shall  free  them  from  debt  at  home  and  insure  their 
independence.  Such  respite  as  they  take  from 
their  labors  is  spent  in  the  saloon,  in  the  club  rooms 
over  the  saloon,  or  in  church,  where  they  hear  no 
English  speech  and  learn  nothing  of  American  ways. 

It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  total  number  of 
Russian  Slavs  in  the  United  States,  as  the  census 
figures  until  recently  included  as  "Russian"  all 
nationalities  that  came  from  Russia.  They  form 
the  smallest  of  the  Slavic  groups  that  have  mi- 
grated to  America.  From  1898  to  1909  only  66,282 
arrived,  about  half  of  whom  settled  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  New  York.  It  is  surprising  to  note, 

1  This  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  Hungarian  Govern- 
ment rigorously  censored  Slovak  publications. 


170  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

however,  that  every  State  in  the  Union  except 
Utah  and  every  island  possession  except  the  Philip- 
pines has  received  a  few  of  these  immigrants.  The 
Director  of  Emigration  at  St.  Petersburg  in  1907 
characterized  these  people  as  "hardy  and  indus- 
trious," and  "though  illiterate  they  are  intelligent 
and  unbigoted." * 

So  much  in  brief  for  the  North  Slavs.  Of  the 
South  Slavs,  the  Bulgarians  possess  racial  charac- 
teristics which  point  to  an  intermixture  in  the  re- 
mote past  with  some  Asiatic  strain,  perhaps  a 
Magyar  blend.  Very  few  Bulgarian  immigrants, 
who  come  largely  from  Macedonia,  arrived  before 
the  revolution  of  1904,  when  many  villages  in 
Monastir  were  destroyed.  For  some  years  they 
made  Granite  City,  near  St.  Louis,  the  center  of 
their  activities  but,  like  the  Serbians,  they  are  now 
well  scattered  throughout  the  country.  In  Seattle, 
Butte,  Chicago,  and  Indianapolis  they  form  con- 
siderable colonies.  Many  of  them  return  yearly 
to  their  native  hills,  and  it  is  too  early  to  deter- 
mine how  fully  they  desire  to  adapt  themselves  to 
American  ways. 


1  Since  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  Siberia  has  absorbed  great 
numbers  of  Russian  immigrants.  This  accounts  for  the  small 
number  that  have  come  to  America. 


A  STREET  IN  BELGRADE 


A  SERB 

FIGHTING 

MAN 


A 

SERB 
REFUGEE 


Photographs   by    Lewis    \V.    Hine    for    Special    Survey     Mission, 
American  Red  Cross,  and  for  Pittsburgh  Survey. 


170  OUK  FOREIGNERS 

however,  that  every  State  in  the  Union 

ih  and  every  island  possession  except  the  Philip- 
pines has  received  a  few  of  these  immigrants.  The 
Director  of  Emigration  at  St.  Petersburg  in  1907 
characterized  these  people.  aa  "hardy  and  indus- 
trious," and  "though  illiterate  they  are  intelligent 
and  unbigoted."1 


V\   \ 

So  much  in  brief  for  the  North  Slavs.  Of  the 
South  Slavs,  the  Bulgarians  possess  racial  charac- 
teristics which  point  to  an  intermixture  in  the  re- 
mote past  with  some  Asiatic  strain,  perhaps  a 
Magyar  blend.  Very  few  Bulgarian  immigrants, 
who  come  largely  from  Macedonia,  arrived  before 
the  revolution  of  1904,  when  many  villages  in 
Monastir  w«re  destroyed.  For  some  years  they 
made  Granite  City,  o«  <Mii«,  the  center  of 

their  activities  but,  lik*  :>UUM,  they  are  now 

well  scattered  throughout  the  country.  In  Seattle, 
Butte,  Chicago,  and  Indianapolis  they  form  ceo* 
siderable  colonies.  Many  of  ther  yearly 

to  their  native  hills,  and  it  ia  too  early  to  deter- 
mine how  fully  they  desire  to  adapt  tlMMelyps  to 

\  TnulA 

-/,  ,  y 


*  Sim*  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  Siberia  ha*  abaci-bed  great 
number*  of  Russian  immigrant*.  Tfci*  account*  for  the  email 
number  that  have  come  to  America. 


laioaqr!    io1    sniH    . //  I  iu;l'I 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  171 

Montenegro,  Serbia,  and  Bulgaria,  countries 
that  have  been  thrust  forcibly  into  the  world's 
vision  by  the  Great  War,  have  sent  several  hundred 
thousand  of  their  hardy  peasantry  to  the  United 
States.  The  Montenegrins  and  Serbians,  who 
comprise  three-fourths  of  this  migration,  are  vir- 
tually one  in  speech  and  descent.  They  are  to  be 
found  in  New  England  towns  and  in  nearly  every 
State  from  New  York  to  Alaska,  where  they  work 
in  the  mills  and  mines  and  in  construction  gangs. 
The  response  which  these  people  make  to  educa- 
tional opportunities  shows  their  high  cultural 
possibilities. 

The  Croatians  and  Dalmatians,  who  constitute 
the  larger  part  of  the  southern  Slav  immigration, 
are  a  sturdy,  vigorous  people,  and  splendid  speci- 
mens of  physical  manhood.  The  Dalmatians  are  a 
seafaring  folk  from  the  Adriatic  coast,  whose  sailors 
may  be  found  in  every  port  of  the  world.  The  Dal- 
matians have  possessed  themselves  of  the  oyster 
fisheries  near  New  Orleans  and  are  to  be  found  in 
Mississippi  making  staves  and  in  California  making 
wine.  In  many  cities  they  manage  restaurants. 
The  exceptional  shrewdness  of  the  Dalmatians  is 
in  bold  contrast  to  their  illiteracy.  They  get  on 
amazingly  in  spite  of  their  lack  of  education.  Once 


172  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

they  have  determined  to  remain  in  this  country, 
they  take  to  American  ways  more  readily  than  do 
the  other  southern  Slavs. 

Croatia,  too,  has  its  men  of  the  sea,  but  in 
America  most  of  the  immigrants  of  this  race  are 
to  be  found  in  the  mines  and  coke  furnaces  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  West  Virginia.  In  New  York  City 
there  are  some  15,000  Croatian  mechanics  and 
longshoremen.  The  silver  and  copper  mines  of 
Montana  also  employ  a  large  number  of  these 
people.  It  is  estimated  that  fully  one-half  of  the 
Croatians  return  to  their  native  hills  and  that  they 
contribute  yearly  many  millions  to  the  home-folks. 

From  the  little  province  of  Carniola  come  the 
Slovenians,  usually  known  as  "Griners"  (from  the 
German  Krainer,  the  people  of  the  Krain),  a  frag- 
ment of  the  Slavic  race  that  has  become  much  more 
assimilated  with  the  Germans  who  govern  them 
than  any  other  of  their  kind.  Their  national  cos- 
tume has  all  but  vanished  and  with  it  the  virile 
traditions  of  their  forefathers.  They  began  coming 
to  America  in  the  sixties,  and  in  the  seventies  they 
founded  an  important  colony  at  Joliet,  Illinois. 
Since  1892  their  numbers  have  increased  rapidly, 
until  today  about  100,000  live  in  the  United  States. 
Over  one-half  of  these  immigrants  are  to  be  found 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  173 

In  the  steel  and  mining  towns  of  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  and  Illinois,  where  the  large  majority  of 
them  are  unskilled  workmen.  Among  the  second 
generation,  however,  are  to  be  found  a  number  of 
successful  merchants. 

All  these  numerous  peoples  have  inherited  in 
common  the  impassive,  patient  temperament  and 
the  unhappy  political  fate  of  the  Slav.  Their 
countries  are  mere  eddies  left  by  the  mighty  cur- 
rents of  European  conquest  and  reconquest,  back- 
ward lands  untouched  by  machine  industry  and 
avoided  by  capital,  whose  only  living  links  with 
the  moving  world  are  the  birds  of  passage,  the 
immigrants  who  flit  between  the  mines  and  cities 
of  America  and  these  isolated  European  villages. 
Held  together  by  national  costume,  song,  dance, 
festival,  traditions,  and  language,  these  people  live 
in  the  pale  glory  of  a  heroic  past.  Most  of  those 
who  come  to  America  are  peasants  who  have  been 
crushed  by  land  feudalism,  kept  in  ignorance  by 
political  intolerance,  and  bound  in  superstition 
by  a  reactionary  ecclesiasticism.  The  brutality 
with  which  they  treat  their  women,  their  disregard 
for  sanitary  measures,  and  their  love  for  strong 
drink  are  evidences  of  the  survival  of  medievalism 
in  the  midst  of  modern  lif  e,  as  are  their  notions  of 


174  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

class  prerogative  and  their  concept  of  the  State. 
Buffeted  by  the  world,  their  language  suppressed, 
their  nationalism  reviled,  poor,  ignorant,  unskilled, 
these  children  of  the  open  country  come  to  the 
ugliest  spots  of  America,  the  slums  of  the  cities, 
and  the  choking  atmosphere  of  the  mines.  Here, 
crowded  in  their  colonies,  jealously  shepherd- 
ed by  their  church,  neglected  by  the  community, 
they  remain  for  an  entire  generation  immune  to 
American  influences.  According  to  estimates  giv- 
en by  Emily  G.  Balch, '  between  four  and  six  mil- 
lion persons  of  Slavic  descent  are  now  dwelling 
among  us,  and  their  fecundity  is  amazing.  Equal- 
ly amazing  is  the  indifference  of  the  Government 
and  of  Americans  generally  to  the  menace  in- 
volved in  the  increasing  numbers  of  these  invet- 
erate aliens  to  institutions  that  are  fundamentally 
American. 

The  Lithuanians  and  Magyars  are  often  classed 
with  the  Slavs.  They  hotly  resent  this  inclusion, 
however,  for  they  are  distinct  racial  strains  of  an- 
cient lineage.  An  adverse  fate  has  left  the  Lithu- 
anian little  of  his  old  civilization  except  his  lan- 
guage. Political  and  economic  suppression  has 
made  sad  havoc  of  what  was  once  a  proud  and 

1  Ow  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens,  p.  280. 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  175 

prosperous  people.  Most  of  them  are  now  crowded 
into  the  Baltic  province  that  bears  their  name,  and 
they  are  reduced  to  the  menta!  and  economic  level  of 
the  Russian  moujik.  In  1868  a  famine  drove  the  first 
of  these  immigrants  to  America,  where  they  were 
soon  absorbed  by  the  anthracite  mines  of  Penn- 
sylvania. They  were  joined  in  the  seventies  by 
numbers  of  army  deserters.  The  hard  times  of  the 
nineties  caused  a  rush  of  young  men  to  the  western 
El  Dorado.  Since  then  the  influx  has  steadily 
continued  until  now  over  200,000  are  in  America. 
They  persistently  avoid  agriculture  and  seek  the 
coal  mine  and  the  factory.  The  one  craft  in  which 
they  excel  is  tailoring,  and  they  proudly  boast  of 
being  the  best  dressed  among  all  the  Eastern- 
European  immigrants.  The  one  mercantile  ambi- 
tion which  they  have  nourished  is  to  keep  a  saloon. 
Drinking  is  their  national  vice;  and  they  measure 
the  social  success  of  every  wedding,  christening, 
picnic,  and  jollification  by  its  salvage  of  empty 
beer  kegs. 

Over  338,000  Magyars  immigrated  to  the  United 
States  during  the  decade  ending  1910.  These  bril- 
liant and  masterful  folk  are  a  Mongoloid  blend 
that  swept  from  the  steppes  of  Asia  across  east- 
ern Europe  a  thousand  years  ago.  As  the  wave 


176  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

receded,  the  Magyars  remained  dominant  in  beau- 
tiful and  fertile  Hungary,  where  their  aggressive 
nationalism  still  brings  them  into  constant  rivalry 
on  the  one  hand  with  the  Germans  of  Austria  and 
on  the  other  with  the  Slavs  of  Hungary.  The  im- 
migrants to  America  are  largely  recruited  from  the 
peasantry.  They  almost  invariably  seek  the  cities, 
where  the  Magyar  neighborhoods  can  be  easily 
distinguished  by  their  scrupulously  neat  house- 
keeping, the  flower  beds,  the  little  patches  of  well- 
swept  grass,  the  clean  children,  and  the  robust  and 
tidy  women.  Among  them  is  less  illiteracy  than  in 
any  other  group  from  eastern  and  southern  Europe, 
excepting  the  Finns,  who  are  their  ethnic  brothers. 
As  a  rule  they  own  their  own  homes.  They  learn 
the  English  language  quickly  but  unfortunately 
acquire  with  it  many  American  vices.  Drinking 
and  carousing  are  responsible  for  then'  many  crimes 
of  personal  violence.  They  are  otherwise  a  socia- 
ble, happy  people,  and  the  cafes  kept  by  Hunga- 
rians are  islands  of  social  jollity  in  the  desert  of 
urban  strife. 

In  bold  contrast  to  these  ardent  devotees  of 
nationalism,  the  Jew,  the  man  of  no  country  and  of 
all  countries,  is  an  American  immigrant  still  to  be 
considered.  By  force  of  circumstance  he  became 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  177 

a  city  dweller;  he  came  from  the  European  city; 
he  remained  in  the  American  city;  and  all  attempts 
to  colonize  Jews  on  the  land  have  failed.  The  doors 
of  this  country  have  always  been  open  to  him.  At 
the  time  of  the  Revolution  several  thousand  Jews 
dwelt  in  American  towns.  By  1850  the  number 
had  increased  to  50,000  and  by  the  time  of  the  Civil 
War  to  150,000.  The  persecutions  of  Czar  Alex- 
ander III  in  the  eighties  swelled  the  number  to 
over  400,000,  and  the  political  reactions  of  the 
nineties  added  over  one  million.  Today  at  least 
one  fifth  of  the  ten  million  Jews  in  the  world  live 
in  American  cities. 

The  first  to  seek  a  new  Zion  in  this  land  were 
the  Spanish-Portuguese  Jews,  who  came  as  early 
as  1655.  They  remain  a  select  aristocracy  among 
their  race,  clinging  to  certain  ritualistic  character- 
istics and  retaining  much  of  the  pride  which  their 
long  contact  with  the  Spaniard  has  engendered. 
They  are  found  almost  exclusively  in  the  eastern 
cities,  as  successful  bankers,  merchants,  and  pro- 
fessional men.  There  next  came  on  the  wave  of 
the  great  German  immigration  the  German  Jews. 
They  are  to  be  found  in  every  city,  large  and  small, 
engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  especially  in  the 
drygoods  and  the  clothing  business.  Nearly  all 


178  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

of  the  prominent  Jews  in  America  have  come  from 
this  stock  —  the  great  bankers,  financiers,  lawyers, 
merchants,  rabbis,  scholars,  and  public  men.  It 
was,  indeed,  from  their  broad-minded  scholars 
that  there  originated  the  widespread  liberal  Juda- 
ism which  has  become  a  potent  ethical  force  in  our 
great  cities. 

The  Austrian  and  Hungarian  Jews  followed. 
The  Jews  had  always  received  liberal  treatment 
in  Hungary,  and  their  mingling  with  the  social 
Magyars  had  produced  the  type  of  the  coffee- 
house Jew,  who  loved  to  reproduce  in  American 
cities  the  conviviality  of  Vienna  and  Budapest 
but  who  did  not  take  as  readily  to  American 
ways  as  the  German  Jew.  Most  of  the  Jews  from 
Hungary  remained  in  New  York,  although  Chi- 
cago and  St.  Louis  received  a  few  of  them.  In 
commercial  life  they  are  traders,  pawnbrokers, 
and  peddlers,  and  control  the  artificial-flower  and 
passementerie  trade. 

By  far  the  largest  group  are  the  latest  comers, 
the  Russian  Jews.  "  Ultra  orthodox,"  says  Edward 
A.  Steiner,  "yet  ultra  radical;  chained  to  the  past, 
and  yet  utterly  severed  from  it;  with  religion  per- 
meating every  act  of  life,  or  going  to  the  other  ex- 
treme and  having  'none  of  it';  traders  by  instinct, 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  179 

and  yet  among  the  hardest  manual  laborers  of 
our  great  cities.  A  complex  mass  in  which  great 
things  are  yearning  to  express  themselves,  a 
brooding  mass  which  does  not  know  itself  and 
does  not  lightly  disclose  itself  to  the  outside."1 
Nearly  a  million  of  these  people  are  crowded 
into  the  New  York  ghettos.  Large  numbers  of 
them  engage  in  the  garment  industries  and  the 
manufacture  of  tobacco.  They  graduate  also 
into  junk-dealers,  pawnbrokers,  and  peddlers, 
and  are  soon  on  their  way  "up  town."  Among 
them  socialism  thrives,  and  the  second  generation 
displays  an  unseemly  haste  to  break  with  the  faith 
of  its  fathers. 

The  Jews  are  the  intellectuals  of  the  new  immi- 
gration. They  invest  their  political  ideas  with 
vague  generalizations  of  human  amelioration. 
They  cannot  forget  that  Karl  Marx  was  a  Jew:  and 
one  wonders  how  many  Trotzkys  and  Lenines  are 
being  bred  in  the  stagnant  air  of  their  reeking 
ghettos.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  they  will 
be  willing  to  devote  their  undoubted  mental  ca- 
pacities to  other  than  revolutionary  vagaries  or  to 
gainful  pursuits,  for  they  have  a  tendency  to  com- 
mercialize everything  they  touch.  They  have 

1  On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant,  p.  27. 


180  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

shown  no  reluctance  to  enter  politics;  they  learn 
English  with  amazing  rapidity,  throng  the  public 
schools  and  colleges,  and  push  with  characteristic 
zeal  and  persistence  into  every  open  door  of  this 
liberal  land. 

From  Italy  there  have  come  to  America  well 
over  three  million  immigrants.  For  two  decades 
before  1870  they  filtered  in  at  the  average  rate  of 
about  one  thousand  a  year;  then  the  current  in- 
creased to  several  thousand  a  year;  and  after  1880 
it  rose  to  a  flood. *  Over  two-thirds  of  these  Ital- 
ians live  in  the  larger  cities;  one-fourth  of  them  are 
crowded  into  New  York  tenements. 2  Following  in 
order,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  Boston,  New  Orleans, 
Cleveland,  St.  Louis,  Baltimore,  Detroit,  Portland, 
and  Omaha  have  their  Italian  quarters,  all  char- 
acterized by  overcrowded  boarding  houses  and 
tenements,  vast  hordes  of  children,  here  and  there 
an  Italian  bakery  and  grocery,  on  every  cor- 
ner a  saloon,  and  usually  a  private  bank  with  a 

1  The  census  figures  show  that  approximately  half  the  Italian 
immigrants  return  to  their  native  land.  American  officers  in  the 
Great  War  were  surprised  to  find  so  many  Italian  soldiers  who 
spoke  English.  In  1910  there  remained  in  the  United  States  only 
1,843,000  Italians  who  were  born  in  Italy,  and  the  total  number 
of  persons  of  Italian  stock  in  the  United  States  was  2,098,000. 

*  According  to  the  Census  of  1910  there  were  544,000  Italians 
in  New  York  City. 


WOMEN  OF  NORTHERN  I  TALI 


A  LEGIONARY  OF  TO  DA} 


Photographs    by    Lewis    W.    Hine    for    Special    Survey 
Mission,  American  Red  Cross,  and  for  Pittsburgh  Survey. 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 

shown  no  reluctance  to  enter  politics;  they  learn 
English  with  amazing  rapidity,  throng  the  public 
schools  and  colleges,  and  push  with  characteristic 
zeal  and  persistence  into  every  open  door  of  this 
liberal  land. 
From  Italy  there  have  come  to  America  well 

over  three  ^j^,*^^^,  vM  decade* 

before  1870  they  filtered  in  at  the  average  rate  of 
about  one  thousand  a  year;  then  the  current  in- 
creased to  several  thousand  a  year;  and  after  1880 
it  rose  to  a  flood. I  Over  two-thirds  of  these  Ital- 
ians live  in  the  larger  cities;  one-fourth  of  them  are 
crowded  into  New  York  tenements. 3  Following  in 
order,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  Boston,  New  Orleans, 
Clevela  ,  Baltimore,  Detroit,  Portland, 

and  Omaha  have  their  Italian  quarters,  all  char- 
acterised by  overcrowded  boarding  houses  and 
tenements,  vast  hordes  of  children,  here  and  there 
an  Italian  bakery  and  grocery,  on  every  cor- 
ner a  saloon,  and  usually  a  private  !  auk  with  a 

1  The  census  figures  show  that  approximately  batf  the  Italian 
teuMfpmnta  return  to  their  native  land.  America*  officers  in  the 
Great  War  were  surprUe&Qtt  flMti  'ttt  KiAfcJi'OaJnk)  soldiers  who 
spoke  Kuglish  In  1910  there  remained  in  the  United  States  only 
1,343, 0M  Italians  who  were  bora  m  Italy,  and  the  total  number 
of  penaos  of  Italian  stock  in  the  I  aired  States  was  2,098,000. 

*  According  to  the  Census  of  !*!•  there  were  544.000  Italians 
in  Ntw  York  City. 

ol    ^nill    .'((    niwxl     yd    i 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  181 

steamship  agency  and  the  office  of  the  local  padrone. 
Scores  of  the  lesser  cities  also  have  their  Italian 
contingent,  usually  in  the  poorest  and  most  neg- 
lected part  of  the  town,  where  gaudily  painted  door 
jambs  and  window  frames  and  wonderfully  pros- 
perous gardens  proclaim  the  immigrant  from  sunny 
Italy.  Not  infrequently  an  old  warehouse,  store, 
or  church  is  transformed  into  an  ungainly  and  evil- 
odored  barracks,  housing  scores  of  men  who  do 
their  own  washing  and  cooking.  Those  who  do 
not  dwell  in  the  cities  are  at  work  in  construc- 
tion camps  —  for  the  Italian  has  succeeded  the 
Irishman  as  the  knight  of  the  pick  and  shovel. 
The  great  bulk  of  these  swarthy,  singing,  hopeful 
young  fellows  are  peasants,  unskilled  of  hand  but 
willing  of  heart.  Nearly  every  other  one  is  un- 
able to  read  or  write.  They  have  not  come  for 
political  or  religious  reasons  but  purely  as  seek- 
ers for  wages,  driven  from  the  peasant  villages 
by  overpopulation  and  the  hazards  of  a  precari- 
ous agriculture. 

They  have  come  in  two  distinct  streams:  one 
from  northern  Italy,  embracing  about  one-fifth 
of  the  whole;  the  other  from  southern  Italy.  The 
two  streams  are  quite  distinct  in  quality.  North- 
ern Italy  is  the  home  of  the  old  masters  in  art  and 


182  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

literature  and  of  a  new  industrialism  that  is  bringing 
renewed  prosperity  to  Milan  and  Turin.  Here  the 
virile  native  stock  has  been  strengthened  with  the 
blood  of  its  northern  neighbors.  They  are  a  ca- 
pable, creative,  conservative,  reliable  race.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  hot  temper  of  the  South  has  been 
fed  by  an  infusion  of  Greek  and  Saracen  blood. 
In  Sicily  this  strain  shows  at  its  worst.  There  the 
vendetta  flourishes;  and  the  Camorra  and  its  sinis- 
ter analogue,  the  Black  Hand,  but  too  realistically 
remind  us  that  thousands  of  these  swarthy  crimi- 
nals have  found  refuge  in  the  dark  alleys  of  our 
cities.  Even  in  America  the  Sicilian  carries  a  dirk, 
and  the  "death  sign"  in  a  court  room  has  silenced 
many  a  witness.  The  north  Italians  readily  iden- 
tify themselves  with  American  life.  Among  them 
are  found  bakers,  barbers,  and  marble  cutters,  as 
well  as  wholesale  fruit  and  olive  oil  merchants, 
artists,  and  musicians.  But  the  south  Italian  is  a 
restless,  roving  creature,  who  dislikes  the  confine- 
ment and  restraint  of  the  mill  and  factory.  He 
is  found  out  of  doors,  making  roads  and  excava- 
tions, railways,  skyscrapers,  and  houses.  If  he 
has  a  liking  for  trade  he  trundles  a  pushcart  filled 
with  fruit  or  chocolates;  or  he  may  turn  a  jolly 
hurdy-gurdy  or  grind  scissors.  In  spite  of  his 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  183 

native  sociability,  the  south  Italian  is  very  slow 
to  take  to  American  ways.  As  a  rule,  he  comes 
here  intending  to  go  back  when  he  has  made 
enough  money.  He  has  the  air  of  a  sojourner. 
He  is  picturesque,  volatile,  and  incapable  of  effec- 
tive team  work. 

About  300,000  Greeks  have  come  to  America 
between  1908  and  1917,  nearly  all  of  them  young 
men,  escaping  from  a  country  where  they  had  meat 
three  times  a  year  to  a  land  where  they  may  have 
it  three  times  a  day.  "The  whole  Greek  world," 
says  Henry  P.  Fairchild,  writing  in  1911,  "may 
be  said  to  be  in  a  fever  of  emigration.  .  .  .  The 
strong  young  men  with  one  accord  are  "severing 
home  ties,  leaving  behind  wives  and  sweethearts, 
and  thronging  to  the  shores  of  America  in  search 
of  opportunity  and  fortune."  Every  year  they 
send  back  handsome  sums  to  the  expectant  family. 
Business  is  an  instinct  with  the  Greek,  and  he  has 
almost  monopolized  the  ice  cream,  confectionery, 
and  retail  fruit  business,  the  small  florist  shops  and 
bootblack  stands  in  scores  of  towns,  and  in  every 
large  city  he  is  running  successful  restaurants.  As 
a  factory  operative  he  is  found  in  the  cotton  mills 
of  New  England,  but  he  prefers  merchandizing  to 
any  other  calling. 


184  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Years  ago  when  New  Bedford  was  still  a  whaling 
port  a  group  of  Portuguese  sailors  from  the  Azores 
settled  there.  This  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Por- 
tuguese immigration  which,  in  the  last  decade, 
included  over  80,000  persons.  Two-thirds  of  these 
live  in  New  England  factory  towns,  the  remaining 
third,  strange  to  say,  have  found  their  way  to  the 
other  side  of  the  continent,  where  they  work  in  the 
gardens  and  fruit  orchards  of  California.  New 
Bedford  is  still  the  center  of  their  activity.  They 
are  a  hard-working  people  whose  standard  of  living, 
according  to  official  investigations  "is  much  low- 
er than  that  of  any  other  race,"  of  whom  scarcely 
one  in  twenty  become  citizens,  and  who  evince 
no  interest  in  learning  or  in  manual  skill. 

Finally,  American  cities  are  extending  the  radius 
of  their  magnetism  and  are  drawing  ambitious 
tradesmen  and  workers  from  the  Levant.  Over 
100,000  have  come  from  Arabia,  Syria,  Armenia, 
and  Turkey.  The  Armenians  and  Syrians,  form- 
ing the  bulk  of  this  influx,  came  as  refugees  from 
the  brutalities  of  the  Mohammedan  regime.  The 
Levantine  is  first  and  always  a  bargainer.  His 
little  bazaars  and  oriental  rug  shops  are  bits  of 
Cairo  and  Constantinople,  where  you  are  privi- 
leged to  haggle  over  every  purchase  in  true  oriental 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS 


185 


style.  Even  the  peddlers  of  lace  and  drawn-work 
find  it  hard  to  accustom  themselves  to  the  oc- 
cidental idea  of  a  market  price.  With  all  their 
cunning  as  traders,  they  respect  learning,  prize 
manual  skill,  possess  a  fine  artistic  sense,  and  are 
law-abiding.  The  Armenians  especially  are  eager 
to  become  American  citizens.  Since  the  settle- 
ment of  the  Northwestern  lands,  many  thousands 
of  Scandinavians  and  Finns  have  flocked  to  the 
cities,  where  they  are  usually  employed  as  skilled 
craftsmen. ' 

Thus  the  United  States,  in  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
has  assumed  a  cosmopolitanism  in  which  the  early 
German  and  Irish  immigrants  appear  as  veteran 

1  The  Census  of  1910  gives  the  following  distribution  of  the 
American  white  population  by  percentages: 


Location 

Native  stock 

Notice  born  of 
Foreign  or 
mixed  parentage 

Foreign 
born 

Rural  districts 

64.1 

13.3 

7.5 

Cities      2,500-  10,000 

57.5 

20.6 

13.9 

10,000-  25,000 

50.4 

24.6 

17.4 

25,000-100,000 

45.9 

26.5 

20.2 

"      100,000-500,000 

38.9 

31.8 

22.1 

500,000  and  over 

25.6 

37.2 

33.6 

The  native  white  element  predominates  in  the  country  but  is 
only  a  fraction  of  the  population  in  the  larger  cities. 


186  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Americans.  This  is  not  a  stationary  cosmopolitan- 
ism, like  that  of  Constantinople,  the  only  great  city 
in  Europe  that  compares  with  New  York,  Chicago, 
or  Boston  in  ethnic  complexity.  It  is  a  shifting 
mass.  No  two  generations  occupy  the  same  quar- 
ters. Even  the  old  rich  move  "up  town'*  leaving 
their  fine  houses,  derelicts  of  a  former  splendor,  to 
be  divided  into  tenements  where  six  or  eight  Italian 
or  Polish  families  find  ample  room  for  themselves 
and  a  crowd  of  boarders. 

Thousands  of  these  migratory  beings  throng  the 
steerage  of  transatlantic  ships  every  winter  to 
return  to  their  European  homes.  The  steamship 
companies,  whose  enterprise  is  largely  responsible 
for  this  flow  of  populations,  reap  their  harvest; 
and  many  a  decaying  village  buried  in  the  southern 
hills  of  Europe,  or  swept  by  the  winds  of  the  great 
Slav  plains,  owes  its  regeneration  ultimately  to 
American  dollars. 

They  pay  the  price  of  their  success,  these  flitting 
beings,  links  between  distant  lands  and  our  own. 
The  great  maw  of  mine  and  factory  devours  thou- 
sands. Their  lyric  tribal  songs  are  soon  drowned 
by  the  raucous  voices  of  the  city;  their  ancient 
folk-dances,  meant  for  a  village  green,  not  for  a 
reeking  dance-hall,  lose  here  their  native  grace; 


THE  CITY  BUILDERS  187 

and  the  quaint  and  picturesque  costumes  of  the 
European  peasant  give  place  to  American  store 
clothes,  the  ugly  badge  of  equality. 

The  outward  bound  throng  holds  its  head  high, 
talks  back  at  the  steward,  and  swaggers.  It  has 
become  "American."  The  restless  fever  of  the 
great  democracy  is  in  its  veins.  Most  of  those  who 
return  home  will  find  their  way  back  with  others  of 
their  kind  to  the  teeming  hives  and  the  coveted 
fleshpots  they  are  leaving.  And  again  they  will 
tax  the  ingenuity  of  labor  unions,  political  and 
social  organizations,  schools,  libraries,  and  churches, 
in  the  endeavor  to  transform  medieval  peasants 
into  democratic  peers. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  ORIENTAL 

AMERICA,  midway  between  Europe  and  Asia,  was 
destined  to  be  the  meeting-ground  of  Occident  and 
Orient.  It  was  in  the  exciting  days  of  '49  that  gold 
became  the  lodestone  to  draw  to  California  men 
from  the  oriental  lands  across  the  Pacific.  The 
Chinese  for  the  moment  overcame  their  religious 
aversion  to  leaving  their  native  haunts  and,  lured 
by  the  promise  of  fabulous  wages,  made  their  way 
to  the  "gold  hills."  Of  the  three  hundred  thousand 
who  came  to  America  during  the  three  decades  of 
free  entry,  the  large  majority  were  peasants  from 
the  rural  districts  in  the  vicinity  of  Canton.  They 
were  thrifty,  independent,  sturdy,  honest  young 
men  who  sought  the  great  adventure  unaccom- 
panied by  wife  or  family.  Chinese  tradition  for- 
bade the  respectable  woman  to  leave  her  home, 
even  with  her  husband;  and  China  was  so  isolated 
from  the  world,  so  encrusted  in  her  own  traditions, 

188 


THE  ORIENTAL  189 

that  out  of  her  uncounted  millions  even  the  paltry 
thousands  of  peasants  and  workmen  who  filtered 
through  the  port  of  Canton  into  the  great  world 
were  bound  by  ancient  precedent  as  firmly  as  if 
they  had  remained  at  home.  They  invariably 
planned  to  return  to  the  Celestial  Empire  and  it 
was  their  supreme  wish  that,  if  they  died  abroad, 
their  bodies  be  buried  in  the  land  of  their  ancestors. 

The  Chinaman  thus  came  to  America  as  a  work- 
man adventurer,  not  as  a  prospective  citizen.  He 
preserved  his  queue,  his  pajamas,  his  chopsticks, 
and  his  joss  in  the  crude  and  often  brutal  surround- 
ings of  the  mining  camp.  He  maintained  that 
gentle,  yielding,  unassertive  character  which  suc- 
cumbs quietly  to  pressure  at  one  point,  only  to 
reappear  silently  and  unobtrusively  in  another 
place.  In  the  wild  rough  and  tumble  of  the  camp, 
where  the  outlaw  and  the  bully  found  congenial 
refuge,  the  celestial  did  not  belie  his  name.  He  was 
indeed  of  another  world,  and  his  capacity  for  pa- 
tience, his  native  dignity  without  suspicion  of  hau- 
teur, baffled  the  loud  self-assertion  of  the  Irish 
and  the  Anglo-Saxon. 

During  the  first  years  of  the  gold  rush,  the 
Chinaman  was  welcome  in  California  because  he 
was  necessary.  He  could  do  so  many  things  that 


190  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

the  miner  disdained  or  found  no  time  to  do.  He 
could  cook  and  wash,  and  he  could  serve.  He  was 
a  rare  gardener  and  a  patient  day  laborer.  He 
could  learn  a  new  trade  quickly.  In  the  city  he 
became  a  useful  domestic  servant  at  a  time  when 
there  were  very  few  women.  In  all  his  tasks  he  was 
neat  and  had  a  genius  for  noiselessly  minding  his 
own  business. 

As  the  number  of  miners  increased,  race  preju- 
dice asserted  itself.  "California  for  Americans'* 
came  to  be  a  slogan  that  reflected  their  feelings 
against  Mexicans,  Spanish-Americans,  and  Chinese 
in  the  mines.  Race  riots,  often  instigated  by  men 
who  had  themselves  but  recently  immigrated  to 
America,  were  not  infrequent.  In  these  disor- 
ders the  Chinese  were  no  match  for  the  aggressors 
and  in  consequence  were  forced  out  of  many  good 
mining  claims. 

The  labor  of  the  cheap  and  faithful  Chinese  ap- 
pealed to  the  business  instincts  of  the  railroad  con- 
tractors who  were  constructing  the  Pacific  railways 
and  they  imported  large  numbers.  In  1866  a  line 
of  steamships  was  established  to  run  regularly  be- 
tween Hong  Kong  and  San  Francisco.  In  1869  the 
first  transcontinental  railway  was  completed  and 
American  laborers  from  the  East  began  to  flock  to 


THE  ORIENTAL  191 

California,  where  they  immediately  found  them- 
selves in  competition  with  the  Mongolian  standard 
of  living.  Race  rivalry  soon  flared  up  and  the  anti- 
Chinese  sentiment  increased  as  the  railroads  neared 
completion  and  threw  more  and  more  of  the  orien- 
tal laborers  into  the  general  labor  market.  Chinese 
were  hustled  out  of  towns.  Here  and  there  violence 
was  done.  For  example,  in  the  Los  Angeles  riots 
of  October  24, 1871,  fifteen  Chinamen  were  hanged 
and  six  were  shot  by  the  mob. 

This  prejudice,  based  primarily  upon  the  China- 
man's willingness  to  work  long  hours  for  little  pay 
and  to  live  in  quarters  and  upon  fare  which  an 
Anglo-Saxon  would  find  impossible,  was  greatly 
increased  by  his  strange  garb,  language,  and  cus- 
toms. The  Chinaman  remained  in  every  essential 
a  foreigner.  In  his  various  societies  he  maintained 
to  some  degree  the  patriarchal  government  of  his 
native  village.  He  shunned  American  courts, 
avoided  the  Christian  religion,  rarely  learned  much 
of  the  English  language,  and  displayed  no  desire 
to  become  naturalized.  Instead  of  sympathy  in 
the  country  of  his  sojourn  he  met  discrimination, 
jealousy,  and  suspicion.  For  many  years  his  testi- 
mony was  not  permitted  in  the  courts.  His  contact 
with  only  the  rough  frontier  life  failed  to  reveal  to 


192  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

him  the  gentle  amenities  of  the  white  man's  faith, 
and  everywhere  the  upper  hand  seemed  turned 
against  him.  So  he  kept  to  himself,  and  this  isola- 
tion fed  the  rumors  that  were  constantly  poisoning 
public  opinion.  Chinatown  in  the  public  mind  be- 
came a  synonym  for  a  nightmare  of  filth,  gambling, 
opium-smoking,  and  prostitution. 

Alarm  was  spreading  among  Americans  concern- 
ing the  organizations  of  the  Chinese  in  the  United 
States.  Of  these,  the  Six  Companies  were  the 
most  famous.  Mary  Roberts  Coolidge,  after  long 
and  careful  research,  characterized  these  societies 
as  "the  substitute  for  village  and  patriarchal  as- 
sociation, and  although  purely  voluntary  and  be- 
nevolent in  their  purpose,  they  became,  because  of 
American  ignorance  and  prejudice,  the  supposed 
instruments  of  tyranny  over  their  countrymen."1 
They  each  had  a  club  house,  where  members  were 
registered  and  where  lodgings  and  other  accommo- 
dations were  provided.  The  largest  in  1877  had  a 
membership  of  seventy-five  thousand;  the  smallest, 
forty-three  thousand.  The  Chinese  also  main- 
tained trade  guilds  similar  in  purpose  to  the  Ameri- 
can trade  union.  Private  or  secret  societies  also 
flourished  among  them,  some  for  good  purposes, 

1  Chinese  Immigration,  p.  402. 


THE  ORIENTAL  193 

others  for  illicit  purposes.  Of  the  latter  the  High- 
binders or  Hatchet  Men  became  the  most  notori- 
ous, for  they  facilitated  the  importation  of  Chinese 
prostitutes.  Many  of  these  secret  societies  thrived 
on  blackmail,  and  the  popular  antagonism  to  the 
Six  Companies  was  due  to  the  outrages  committed 
by  these  criminal  associations. 

When  the  American  labor  unions  accumulated 
partisan  power,  the  Chinese  became  a  political 
issue.  This  was  the  greatest  evil  that  could  befall 
them,  for  now  racial  persecution  received  official 
sanction  and  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  mere 
ruffians  into  the  custody  of  ,  powerful  political 
agitators.  Under  the  lurid  leadership  of  Dennis 
Kearney,  the  Workingman's  party  was  organized 
for  the  purpose  of  influencing  legislation  and  "rid- 
ding the  country  of  Chinese  cheap  labor."  Their 
goal  was  "Four  dollars  a  day  and  roast  beef";  and 
their  battle  cry,  "The  Chinese  must  go."  Under 
the  excitement  of  sand-lot  meetings,  the  Chinese 
were  driven  under  cover.  In  the  riots  of  July,  1877, 
in  San  Francisco,  twenty-five  Chinese  laundries 
were  burned.  "For  months  afterward,"  says  Mary 
Roberts  Coolidge,  "no  Chin  iman  was  safe  from 
personal  outrage  even  on  th'j  main  thoroughfares, 
and  the  perpetrators  of  the  abuses  were  almost 

13 


194  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

never  interfered  with  so  long  as  they  did  not  molest 
white  men's  property."1 

This  anti-Chinese  epidemic  soon  spread  to  other 
Western  States.  Legislatures  and  city  councils 
vied  with  each  other  in  passing  laws  and  ordinances 
to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  labor  vote.  All 
manner  of  ingenious  devices  were  incorporated  into 
tax  laws  in  an  endeavor  to  drive  the  Chinese  out 
of  certain  occupations  and  to  exclude  them  from 
the  State.  License  and  occupation  taxes  multiplied . 
Xhe  Chinaman  was  denied  the  privilege  of  citizen- 
ship, was  excluded  from  the  public  schools,  and 
was  not  allowed  to  give  testimony  in  proceedings 
relating  to  white  persons.  Manifold  ordinances 
were  passed  intended  to  harass  and  humiliate  him: 
for  instance,  a  San  Francisco  ordinance  required 
the  hair  of  all  prisoners  to  be  cut  within  three 
inches  of  the  scalp.  Most  extreme  and  unreason- 
able discriminations  against  hand  laundries  were 
framed.  The  new  California  constitution  of  1879 
endowed  the  legislature  and  the  cities  with  large 
powers  in  regulating  the  conditions  under  which 
Chinese  would  be  tolerated.  Jn  1880  a  state  law 
declared  that  all  corporations  operating  under  a 
state  charter  should  be  prohibited  from  employing 

1  Chinese  Immigration,  p.  265. 


THE  ORIENTAL  195 

Chinese  under  penalty  of  forfeiting  their  charter. 
Chinese  were  also  excluded  from  employment  in 
all  public  works.  Nearly  all  these  laws  and  ordi- 
nances, however,  were  ultimately  declared  to  be 
unconstitutional  on  account  of  their  discriminatory 
character  or  because  they  were  illegal  regulations 
of  commerce. 

The  States  having  failed  to  exclude  the  Chinese, 
the  only  hope  left  was  in  the  action  of  the  Federal 
Government.  The  earliest  treaties  and  trade  con- 
ventions with  China  (1844  and  1858)  had  been 
silent  upon  the  rights  and  privileges  of  Chinese  re- 
siding or  trading  in  the  United  States.  In  1868, 
Anson  Burlingame,  who  had  served  for  six  years 
as  American  Minister  to  China,  but  who  had  now 
entered  the  employ  of  the  Chinese  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment, arrived  at  the  head  of  a  Chinese  mission 
sent  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  a  new  treaty 
which  should  insure  reciprocal  rights  to  the  Chinese. 
The  journey  from  San  Francisco  to  Washington 
was  a  sort  of  triumphal  progress  and  everywhere 
the  Chinese  mission  was  received  with  acclaim. 
The  treaty  drawn  by  Secretary  Seward  was  ratified 
on  July  28, 1868,  and  was  hailed  even  on  the  Pacific 
coast  as  the  beginning  of  more  fortunate  relations  be- 
tween the  two  countries.  The  treaty  acknowledged 


196  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

the  "inherent  and  inalienable  right  of  man  to 
change  his  home  and  allegiance,  and  also  the 
mutual  advantage  of  the  free  migration  and  emi- 
gration of  their  citizens  and  subjects  respectively, 
from  the  one  country  to  the  other,  for  purposes  of 
curiosity,  of  trade  or  as  permanent  residents.'*  It 
stated  positively  that  "citizens  of  the  United 
States  visiting  or  residing  in  China  shall  enjoy 
the  same  privileges,  immunities,  and  exemptions  in 
respect  to  travel  and  residence  as  may  be  enjoyed 
by  the  citizens  of  the  most  favored  nation.  And, 
reciprocally,  Chinese  subjects  visiting  or  residing 
in  the  United  States  shall  enjoy  the  same  privileges, 
immunities,  and  exemptions  in  respect  to  travel 
or  residence."  The  right  to  naturalization  was 
by  express  statement  not  conferred  by  the  treaty 
upon  the  subjects  of  either  nation  dwelling  in 
the  territory  of  the  other.  But  it  was  not  in  any 
way  prohibited. 

The  applause  which  greeted  this  international 
agreement  had  hardly  subsided  before  the  anti- 
Chinese  agitators  discovered  that  the  treaty  was 
in  their  way  and  they  thereupon  demanded  its 
modification  or  abrogation.  They  now  raised  the 
cry  that  the  Chinese  were  a  threat  to  the  morals 
and  health  of  the  country,  that  the  majority  of 


THE  ORIENTAL  197 

Chinese  immigrants  were  either  coolies  under  con- 
tract, criminals,  diseased  persons,  or  prostitutes. 
As  a  result,  in  1879  a  representative  from  Nevada, 
one  of  the  States  particularly  interested,  intro- 
duced in  Congress  a  bill  limiting  to  fifteen  the 
Chinese  passengers  that  any  ship  might  bring  to 
the  United  States  on  a  single  voyage,  and  requiring 
the  captains  of  such  vessels  to  register  at  the  port 
of  entry  a  list  of  their  Chinese  passengers.  The 
Senate  added  an  amendment  requesting  the  Presi- 
dent to  notify  the  Chinese  Government  that  the 
section  of  the  Burlingame  treaty  insuring  recipro- 
cal interchange  of  citizens  was  abrogated.  After 
a  very  brief  debate  the  measure  that  so  flagrantly 
defied  an  international  treaty  passed  both  houses. 
It  was  promptly  vetoed,  however,  by  President 
Hayes  on  the  ground  that  it  violated  a  treaty 
which  a  friendly  nation  had  carefully  observed. 
If  the  Pacific  cities  had  cause  of  complaint,  the 
President  preferred  to  remedy  the  situation  by 
the  "proper  course  of  diplomatic  negotiations."1 

1  So  intense  was  the  feeling  in  the  West  that  at  this  time  a 
letter  purporting  to  have  been  written  by  James  A.  Garfield,  the 
Republican  candidate,  favoring  unrestricted  immigration,  was 
published  on  the  eve  of  the  Presidential  election  (1880).  Though 
the  letter  was  shown  to  be  a  forgery,  yet  it  was  not  without  in- 
fluence. In  California  Garfield  received  only  one  of  the  six 
electoral  votes;  and  in  Nevada  he  received  none.  In  Denver, 


198  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  President  accordingly  appointed  a  com- 
mission, under  the  chairmanship  of  James  B. 
Angell,  president  of  the  University  of  Michigan, 
to  negotiate  a  new  treaty.  The  commission  pro- 
ceeded to  China  and  completed  its  task  in  Novem- 
ber, 1880.  The  new  treaty  provided  that,  "when- 
ever, in  the  opinion  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  the  coming  of  Chinese  laborers  to 
the  United  States,  or  their  residence  therein,  affects 
or  threatens  to  affect  the  interests  of  that  country, 
or  to  endanger  the  good  order  of  the  said  country 
or  of  any  locality  within  the  territory  thereof,  the 
Government  of  China  agrees  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  may  regulate,  limit,  or  sus- 
pend such  coming  or  residence,  but  may  not  ab- 
solutely prohibit  it."  Other  Chinese  subjects  who 
had  come  to  the  United  States,  "as  travelers,  mer- 
chants, or  for  curiosity, "  and  laborers  already  in 
the  United  States,  were  to  "be  allowed  to  go  and 
come  of  their  own  free  will,"  with  all  of  the  "rights, 
privileges,  immunities,  and  exemptions  which  are 
accorded  to  the  citizens  of  the  most  favored  na- 
tion." The  United  States  furthermore  undertook 


where  only  four  hundred  Chinese  lived,  race  riots  occurred  which 
cost  one  Chinaman  his  life  and  destroyed  Chinese  property  to  the 
amount  of  $50,000. 


THE  ORIENTAL  199 

to  protect  the  Chinese  in  the  United  States  against 
"ill  treatment"  and  to  "devise  means  for  their 
protection." 

Two  years  after  the  ratification  of  this  treaty,  a 
bill  was  introduced  to  prohibit  the  immigration  of 
Chinese  labor  for  twenty  years.  Both  the  great 
political  parties  had  included  the  subject  in  their 
platforms  in  1880.  The  Democrats  had  espoused 
exclusion  and  were  committed  to  "No  more 
Chinese  immigration";  the  Republicans  had  pre- 
ferred restriction  by  "just,  humane,  and  reason- 
able laws."  The  bill  passed,  but  President  Arthur 
vetoed  it  on  the  ground  that  prohibiting  immigra- 
tion for  so  long  a  period  transcended  the  provisions 
of  the  treaty.  A  bill  which  was  then  passed  short- 
ening the  period  of  the  restriction  to  ten  years 
received  the  President's  signature,  and  on  August 
5,  1882,  America  shut  the  door  in  the  face  of 
Chinese  labor. 

The  law,  however,  was  very  loosely  drawn  and 
administrative  confusion  arose  at  once.  Chinese 
laborers  leaving  the  United  States  were  required  to 
obtain  a  certificate  from  the  collector  of  customs 
at  the  port  of  departure  entitling  them  to  reentry. 
Other  Chinese  —  merchants,  travelers,  or  visitors 
—  who  desired  to  come  to  the  United  States  were 


200  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

required  to  have  a  certificate  from  their  Govern- 
ment declaring  that  they  were  entitled  to  enter 
under  the  provisions  of  the  treaty.  As  time  went 
on,  identification  became  a  joke,  trading  in  certi- 
ficates a  regular  pursuit,  and  smuggling  Chinese 
across  the  Canadian  border  a  profitable  business. 
Moreover,  in  the  light  of  the  law,  who  was  a  "mer- 
chant" and  who  a  "visitor"?  In  1884  Congress 
attempted  to  remedy  these  defects  of  phraseology 
and  administration  by  carefully  framed  definitions 
and  stringent  measures. *  The  Supreme  Court  up- 
held the  constitutionality  of  exclusion  as  incident 
to  American  sovereignty. 

Meanwhile  in  the  West  the  popular  feeling 
against  the  Chinese  refused  to  subside.  At  Rock 
Springs,  Wyoming,  twenty-eight  Chinese  were 
killed  and  fifteen  were  injured  by  a  mob  which  also 
destroyed  Chinese  property  amounting  to  $148,000. 
At  Tacoma  and  Seattle,  also,  violence  descended 
upon  the  Mongolian.  In  San  Francisco  a  special 
grand  jury  which  investigated  the  operation  of  the 
exclusion  laws  and  a  committee  of  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  which  investigated  the  condition  of 
Chinatown  both  made  reports  that  were  violent- 
ly anti-Chinese.  A  state  anti-Chinese  convention 

« Wong  Wing  vs.  U.  S.,  163  U.  S.  285. 


THE  ORIENTAL  201 

soon  thereafter  declared  that  the  situation  "had 
become  well-nigh  intolerable.'*  So  widespread 
and  venomous  was  the  agitation  against  Chinese 
that  President  Cleveland  was  impelled  to  send  to 
Congress  two  special  messages  on  the  question, 
detailing  the  facts  and  requesting  Congress  to  pay 
the  Chinese  claims  for  indemnity  which  Wyoming 
refused  to  honor.  The  remonstrances  of  the  Chi- 
nese Government  led  to  the  drafting  of  a  new 
treaty  in  1888.  But  while  China  was  deliberating 
over  this  treaty,  Congress  summarily  shut  off 
any  hope  for  immediate  agreement  by  passing  the 
Scott  Act  prohibiting  the  return  of  any  Chinese 
laborer  after  the  passage  of  the  act,  stopping  the 
issue  of  any  more  certificates  of  identification,  and 
declaring  void  all  certificates  previously  issued. 
It  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  this 
brutal  political  measure  was  passed  with  an  eye  to 
the  Pacific  electoral  vote  in  the  pending  election. 
In  the  next  presidential  year  the  climax  of  harsh- 
ness was  reached  in  the  Geary  law,  which  required, 
within  an  unreasonably  short  time,  the  registration 
of  all  Chinese  in  the  United  States.  The  Chinese,  un- 
der legal  advice,  refused  to  register  until  the  Federal 
Supreme  Court  had  declared  the  law  constitutional. 
Subsequently  the  time  for  registration  was  extended . 


202  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  anti-Chinese  fanaticism  had  now  reached  its 
highest  point.  While  the  Government  maintained 
its  policy  of  exclusion,  it  modified  the  drastic  de- 
tails of  the  law.  In  1894  a  new  treaty  provided 
for  the  exclusion  of  laborers  for  ten  years,  except- 
ing registered  laborers  who  had  either  parent,  wife, 
or  child  in  the  United  States,  or  who  possessed 
property  or  debts  to  the  amount  of  one  thou- 
sand dollars.  It  required  all  resident  Chinese  labor- 
ers to  register,  and  the  Chinese  Government  was 
similarly  entitled  to  require  the  registration  of  all 
American  laborers  resident  in  China.  The  treaty 
made  optional  the  clause  requiring  merchants, 
travelers,  and  other  classes  privileged  to  come  to 
the  United  States,  to  secure  a  certificate  from  their 
Government  vis6d  by  the  American  representative 
at  the  port  of  departure. 

In  1898  General  Otis  extended  the  exclusion  acts 
to  the  Philippines  by  military  order,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  country  was  in  a  state  of  war,  and 
Congress  extended  them  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
In  1904  China  refused  to  continue  the  treaty  of 
1894,  and  Congress  substantially  reenacted  the 
existing  laws  "in  so  far  as  not  inconsistent  with 
treaty  obligations."  Thus  the  legal  status  quo  has 
been  maintained,  and  the  Chinese  population  in 


THE  ORIENTAL  203 

America  is  gradually  decreasing.  No  new  laborers 
are  permitted  to  come  and  those  now  here  go  home 
as  old  age  overtakes  them.  But  the  public  has  come 
to  recognize  that  diplomatic  circumlocution  cannot 
conceal  the  crude  and  harsh  treatment  which  the 
Chinaman  has  received;  that  the  earlier  laws  were 
based  upon  reports  that  greatly  exaggerated  the 
evils  and  were  silent  upon  the  virtues  of  the  Orien- 
tal; and  that  a  policy  which  had  its  conception  in 
frontier  fears  and  in  race  prejudice  was  sustained 
by  politicians  and  perpetuated  by  demagogues. 

Rather  suddenly  the  whole  drama  of  discrimina- 
tion was  re-opened  by  the  arrival  of  a  considerable 
number  of  Japanese  laborers  in  America.  In  1900, 
there  were  some  twenty-four  thousand  in  the  United 
States  and  a  decade  later  this  number  had  increased 
threefold.  About  one-half  of  them  lived  in  Califor- 
nia, and  the  rest  were  to  be  found  throughout  the 
West,  especially  in  Washington,  Colorado,  and  Or- 
egon. They  were  nearly  all  unmarried  young  men 
of  the  peasant  class.  Unlike  the  Chinese,  they  mani- 
fested a  readiness  to  conform  to  American  customs 
and  an  eagerness  to  learn  the  language  and  to 
adopt  American  dress.  The  racial  gulf,  however, 
is  not  bridged  by  a  similarity  in  externals.  The 
Japanese  possess  all  the  deep  and  subtle  contrasts 


204  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

of  mentality  and  ideality  which  differentiate  the 
Orient  from  the  Occident.  A  few  are  not  averse  to 
adopting  Christianity ;  many  more  are  free- thinkers ; 
but  the  bulk  remain  loyal  to  Buddhism.  They 
have  reproduced  here  the  compact  trade  guilds 
of  Japan.  The  persistent  aggressiveness  of  the 
Japanese,  their  cunning,  their  aptitude  in  taking 
advantage  of  critical  circumstances  in  making 
bargains,  have  by  contrast  partially  restored  to 
popular  favor  the  patient,  reliable  Chinaman. 

At  first  the  Japanese  were  welcomed  as  unskilled 
laborers.  They  found  employment  on  the  rail- 
roads, in  lumber  mills  and  salmon  canneries,  in 
mines  and  on  farms,  and  in  domestic  service.  But 
they  soon  showed  a  keen  propensity  for  owning  or 
leasing  land.  The  Immigration  Commission  found 
that  in  1909  they  owned  over  sixteen  thousand 
acres  in  California  and  leased  over  one  hundred 
and  thirty-seven  thousand.  Nearly  all  of  this  land 
they  had  acquired  in  the  preceding  five  years. 
In  Colorado  they  controlled  over  twenty  thousand 
acres,  and  in  Idaho  and  Washington  over  seven 
thousand  acres  each.  This  acreage  represents 
small  holdings  devoted  to  intensive  agriculture, 
especially  to  the  raising  of  sugar  beets,  vegetables, 
and  small  fruits. 


THE  ORIENTAL  205 

The  hostility  which  began  to  manifest  itself 
against  the  Japanese  especially  in  California 
brought  that  State  into  sharp  contact  with  the 
Federal  Government.  In  1906  the  San  Francisco 
authorities  excluded  the  Japanese  from  the  public 
schools.  This  act  was  immediately  and  vigorously 
protested  by  the  Japanese  Government.  After 
due  investigation,  the  matter  was  finally  adjusted 
at  a  conference  held  in  Washington  between 
President  Roosevelt  and  a  delegation  from  Cali- 
fornia. This  incident  served  to  re-awaken  the 
ghost  of  Mongolian  domination  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  for  it  occurred  during  the  notorious  regime 
of  Mayor  Schmitz.  Labor  politics  were  rampant. 
Isolated  instances  of  violence  against  Japanese 
occurred,  and  hoodlums,  without  fear  of  police 
interference,  attacked  a  number  of  Japanese  res- 
taurants. Political  candidates  were  pledged  to  an 
anti-Japanese  policy. 

In  1907  the  two  governments  reached  an  agree- 
ment whereby  the  details  of  issuing  passports  to 
Japanese  laborers  who  desired  to  return  to  the 
United  States  was  virtually  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
Japanese  Government,  which  was  opposed  to  the 
emigration  of  its  laboring  population.  As  a  con- 
sequence of  this  agreement,  passports  are  granted 


206  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

only  to  laborers  who  had  previously  been  residents 
of  the  United  States  or  to  parents,  wives,  and 
children  of  Japanese  laborers  resident  in  America. 
Under  authority  of  the  immigration  law  of  1907, 
the  President  issued  an  order  (March  14,  1907) 
denying  admission  to  "Japanese  and  Korean 
laborers,  skilled  or  unskilled,  who  have  received 
passports  to  go  to  Mexico,  Canada,  Hawaii  and 
come  therefrom"  to  the  United  States. 
1  Anti-Japanese  feeling  was  crystallized  into  the 
alien  land  bill  of  California  in  1913.  So  serious  was 
the  international  situation  that  President  Wilson 
sent  Mr.  Bryan,  then  Secretary  of  State,  across  the 
continent  to  confer  with  the  California  legislature 
and  to  determine  upon  some  action  that  would  at 
the  same  time  meet  the  needs  of  the  State  and 
"leave  untouched  the  international  obligations  of 
the  United  States."  The  law  subsequently  passed 
was  thought  by  the  Californians  to  appease  both 
of  these  demands. x  But  the  Japanese  Government 
made  no  less  than  five  vigorous  formal  protests 

1  The  Alien  Land  Act  of  May  19,  1918,  confers  upon  all  aliens 
eligible  to  citizenship  the  same  rights  as  citizens  in  the  owning  and 
leasing  of  real  property;  but  in  the  case  of  other  aliens  (i.e.  Asiatics) 
it  limits  leases  of  land  for  agricultural  purposes  to  terms  not  exceed- 
ing three  years  and  permits  ownership  "  to  the  extent  and  for  the 
purposes  prescribed  by  any  treaty." 


THE  ORIENTAL  207 

and  filled  a  lengthy  brief  which  characterized  the 
law  as  unfair  and  intentionally  discriminating  and 
in  violation  of  the  treaty  of  Commerce  and  Navi- 
gation entered  into  in  1911.  While  anti- Japanese 
demonstrations  were  taking  place  in  Washington, 
there  was  a  corresponding  outbreak  of  anti- 
American  feeling  in  the  streets  of  Tokyo.  On 
February  2,  1914,  during  the  debate  on  a  new  im- 
migration bill,  an  amendment  was  proposed  in 
the  House  of  Representatives,  at  the  instigation 
of  members  from  the  Pacific  coast,  excluding  all 
Asiatics,  except  such  as  had  their  entry  right  es- 
tablished by  treaty.  But  this  drastic  proposal  was 
defeated  by  a  decisive  vote. 

The  oriental  question  in  America  is  further 
complicated  by  the  fact  that  since  1905  some  five 
thousand  East  Indians  have  come  to  the  United 
States.  Of  these  the  majority  are  Hindoos,  the 
remainder  being  chiefly  Afghans.  How  these 
people  who  have  lived  under  British  rule  will  adapt 
themselves  to  American  life  and  institutions  re- 
mains to  be  seen. 


CHAPTER  X 

RACIAL  INFILTRATION 

WITH  the  free  land  gone  and  the  cities  crowded 
to  overflowing,  the  door  of  immigration,  though 
guarded,  nevertheless  remains  open  and  the  pres- 
sure of  the  old-world  peoples  continues.  Where 
can  they  go?  They  are  filling  in  the  vacant  spots 
of  the  older  States,  the  abandoned  farms,  stagnant 
half-empty  villages,  undrained  swamps,  uninviting 
rocky  hillsides.  This  infiltration  of  foreigners  pos- 
sessing themselves  of  rejected  and  abandoned  land, 
which  has  only  recently  begun,  shows  that  the 
peasant's  instinct  for  the  soil  will  reassert  itself 
when  the  means  are  available  and  the  way  opens. 
It  is  surprising,  indeed,  how  many  are  the  ways 
that  are  opening  for  this  movement.  Transporta- 
tion companies  are  responsible  for  a  number  of  col- 
onies planted  bodily  in  cut-over  timber  regions  of 
the  South.  The  journals  and  the  real  estate  agents 
of  the  different  races  are  always  alert  to  spy  out 

208 


209 

opportunities.  Dealing  in  second-hand  farms  has 
become  a  considerable  industry.  The  advertising 
columns  of  Chicago  papers  announce  hundreds  of 
farms  for  sale  in  northern  Michigan  and  Wiscon- 
sin. In  all  the  older  States  there  are  for  sale  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  tillable  land  which  have  been  left 
by  the  restless  shif  tings  of  the  American  population. 
In  New  England  the  abandoned  farm  has  long  been 
an  institution.  Throughout  the  East  there  are  de- 
pleted and  dying  villages,  their  solidly  built  cot- 
tages hidden  in  the  matting  of  trees  and  shrubs 
which  neglect  has  woven  about  them.  One  can 
see  paralysis  creeping  over  them  as  the  vines  creep 
over  their  deserted  thresholds  and  they  surrender 
one  by  one  the  little  industries  that  gave  them  life. 
These  are  the  opportunities  of  the  immigrant 
peasant.  Wherever  the  new  migration  swarms, 
there  the  receding  tide  leaves  a  few  energetic  in- 
dividuals who  have  made  for  themselves  a  perma- 
nent home.  In  the  wake  of  construction  gangs 
and  along  the  lines  of  railways  and  canals  one  dis- 
covers these  immigrant  families  taking  root  in  the 
soil.  In  the  smaller  cities,  an  immigrant  day  la- 
borer will  often  invest  his  savings  in  a  tumble-down 
house  and  an  acre  of  land,  and  almost  at  once  he 

becomes  the  nucleus  for  a  gathering  of  his  kind. 

14 


210  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  market  gardens  that  surround  the  large  cities 
offer  work  to  the  children  of  the  factory  operatives, 
and  there  they  swarm  over  beet  and  onion  fields 
like  huge  insects  with  an  unerring  instinct  for  weeds. 
Now  and  then  a  family  finds  a  forgotten  acre,  builds 
a  shack,  and  starts  a  small  independent  market 
garden.  Within  a  few  years  a  whole  settlement  of 
shacks  grows  up  around  it,  and  soon  the  trucking  of 
the  neighborhood  is  in  foreign  hands.  Seasonal 
agricultural  work  often  carries  the  immigrant  in- 
to distant  canning  centers,  hop  fields,  cranberry 
marshes,  orchards,  and  vineyards.  Every  time  a 
migration  of  this  sort  occurs,  some  settlers  remain 
on  land  previously  thought  unfit  for  cultivation  — 
perhaps  a  swamp  which  they  drain  or  a  sand-hill 
which  they  fertilize  and  nurture  into  surprising 
fertility  by  constant  toil.  This  racial  seepage  is 
confined  almost  wholly  to  the  Italian  and  the  Slav. 
There  is  a  vast  acreage  of  unoccupied  good  land 
in  the  South,  which  the  negro,  usually  satisfied 
with  a  bare  living,  has  neither  the  enterprise  nor 
the  thrift  to  cultivate.  The  prejudice  of  the  former 
slave  owner  against  the  foreign  immigration  for 
many  years  retarded  the  development  of  this  land. 
About  1880,  however,  groups  of  Italians,  attracted 
by  the  sunny  climate  and  the  opportunities  for 


RACIAL  INFILTRATION  211 

making  a  livelihood,  began  to  seep  into  Louisiana. 
By  1900  they  numbered  over  seventeen  thousand. 
When  direct  sailings  between  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  established,  their  num- 
bers increased  rapidly  and  New  Orleans  became 
one  of  the  leading  Italian  centers  in  the  United 
States.  From  the  city  they  soon  spread  into  the 
adjoining  region.  Today  they  grow  cotton,  sugar- 
cane, and  rice  in  nearly  all  the  Southern  States.  In 
the  deep  black  loam  of  the  Yazoo  Delta  they  pros- 
per as  cotton  growers.  They  have  transformed 
the  neglected  slopes  of  the  Ozarks  into  apple  and 
peach  orchards.  New  Orleans,  Dallas,  Galveston, 
Houston,  San  Antonio,  and  other  Southern  cities 
are  supplied  with  vegetables  from  the  Italian  truck 
farms.  At  Independence,  Louisiana,  a  colony 
raises  strawberries.  In  the  black  belt  of  Arkansas 
they  established  Sunny  side  in  1895,  a  colony  which 
has  survived  many  vicissitudes  and  has  been  the 
parent  of  other  similar  enterprises.  In  Texas  there 
are  a  number  of  such  colonies,  of  which  the  largest, 
at  Bryan,  numbers  nearly  two  thousand  persons. 
In  California  the  Italian  owns  farms,  orchards, 
vineyards,  market  gardens,  and  even  ranches. 
Here  he  finds  the  cloudless  sky  and  mild  air  of  his 
native  land.  The  sunny  slopes  invite  vine  culture. 


212  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

In  the  North  and  the  East  the  alert  Italian  has 
found  many  opportunities  to  buy  land.  In  the  en- 
virons of  nearly  every  city  northward  from  Norfolk, 
Virginia,  are  to  be  found  his  truck  patches.  At 
Vineland  and  Hammonton,  New  Jersey,  large  col- 
onies have  flourished  for  many  years.  In  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania,  many  a  hill  farm  that  was 
too  rocky  for  its  Yankee  owner,  and  many  a  back- 
breaking  clay  moraine  in  Ohio  and  Indiana  has 
been  purchased  for  a  small  cash  payment  and,  un- 
der the  stimulus  of  the  family's  coaxing,  now  yields 
paying  crops,  while  the  father  himself  also  earns 
a  daily  wage  in  the  neighboring  town.  Where  one 
such  Italian  family  is  to  be  found,  there  are  sure  to 
be  found  at  least  two  or  three  others  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, for  the  Italians  hate  isolation  more  than 
hunger.  Often  they  are  clustered  in  colonies,  as  at 
Genoa  and  Cumberland  in  Wisconsin,  where  most 
of  them  are  railroad  workmen  paying  for  the  land 
out  of  their  wages. 

The  Slavs,  too,  wedge  into  the  most  surprising 
spaces.  Their  colonies  and  settlements  are  to  be 
found  in  considerable  numbers  in  every  part  of  the 
Union  except  the  far  South.  They  are  on  the  cut- 
over  timber  lands  of  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and 
Minnesota,  usually  engaged  in  dairying  or  raising 


RACIAL  INFILTRATION  213 

vegetables  for  canning.  On  the  great  prairies  in 
Iowa,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  the  Dakotas,  the 
Bohemians  and  the  Poles  have  learned  to  raise 
wheat  and  corn,  and  in  Texas,  Oklahoma,  and  Ar- 
kansas, they  have  shown  themselves  skillful  in 
cotton  raising.  Wherever  fruit  is  grown  on  the  Pa- 
cific slope,  there  are  Bohemians,  Slavonians,  and 
Dalmatians.  In  New  England,  Ohio,  Illinois,  In- 
diana, and  Maryland,  the  Poles  have  become  pio- 
neers in  the  neglected  corners  of  the  land.  For 
instance  in  Orange  County,  New  York,  a  thriving 
settlement  from  old  Poland  now  flourishes  where 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  there  was  only  a  mos- 
quito breeding  swamp.  The  drained  area  pro- 
duces the  most  surprising  crops  of  onions,  lettuce, 
and  celery.  Many  of  these  immigrants  own  their 
little  farms.  Others  work  on  shares  in  anticipa- 
tion of  ownership,  and  still  others  labor  merely 
for  the  season,  transients  who  spend  the  winter 
either  in  American  factories  or  flit  back  to  their 
native  land. 

In  Pennsylvania  it  is  the  mining  towns  which 
furnished  recruits  for  this  landward  movement.  In 
some  of  the  counties  an  exchange  of  population  has 
been  taking  place  for  a  decade  or  more.  The  land 
dwelling  Americans  are  moving  into  the  towns  and 


214  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

cities.  The  farms  are  offered  for  sale.  Enterpris- 
ing Slavic  real  estate  dealers  are  not  slow  in  per- 
suading their  fellow  countrymen  to  invest  their 
savings  in  land. 

The  Slavonic  infiltration  has  been  most  marked 
in  New  England,  especially  in  the  Connecticut  Val- 
ley. From  manufacturing  centers  like  Chicopee, 
Worcester,  Ware,  Westfield,  and  Fitchburg,  areas 
of  Polish  settlements  radiate  in  every  direction, 
alien  spokes  from  American  hubs.  Here  are  little 
farming  villages  ready  made  in  attractive  settings 
whose  vacant  houses  invite  the  alien  peasant.  A 
Polish  family  moves  into  a  sedate  colonial  house; 
often  a  second  family  shares  the  place,  sometimes 
a  third  or  a  fourth,  each  with  a  brood  of  children 
and  often  a  boarder  or  two.  The  American  fam- 
ilies left  in  the  neighborhood  are  scandalized  by 
this  promiscuity,  by  the  bare  feet  and  bare  heads, 
by  the  unspeakable  fare,  the  superstition  and  cre- 
dulity, and  illiteracy  and  disregard  for  sanitary 
measures,  and  by  the  ant-like  industry  from  star- 
light to  starlight.  Old  Hadley  has  become  a  pro- 
totype of  what  may  become  general  if  this  racial 
infiltration  is  not  soon  checked.  In  1906  the  Poles 
numbered  one-fifth  of  the  population  in  that  town, 
owned  one-twentieth  of  the  land,  and  produced 


RACIAL  INFILTRATION  215 

two-thirds  of  the  babies.  Dignified  old  streets 
that  formerly  echoed  with  the  tread  of  patriots 
now  resound  to  the  din  of  Polish  weddings  and 
christenings,  and  the  town  that  sheltered  William 
Goffe,  one  of  the  judges  before  whom  Charles  I  was 
tried,  now  houses  Polish  transients  at  twenty-five 
cents  a  bed  weekly. 

The  transient  usually  returns  to  Europe,  but 
the  landowner  remains.  His  kind  is  increas- 
ing yearly.  It  is  even  probable  that  in  a  gen- 
eration he  will  be  the  chief  landowner  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley.  It  will  take  more  than  an 
association  of  old  families,  determined  on  keep- 
ing the  ancient  homes  in  their  own  hands,  to 
check  this  transformation. 

The  process  of  racial  replacement  is  moift  rapid 
in  the  smaller  manufacturing  towns.  In  the  New 
England  mills  the  Yankee  gave  way  to  the  Irish, 
the  Irish  gave  way  to  the  French  Canadian,  and 
the  French  Canadian  has  been  largely  superseded 
by  the  Slav  and  the  Italian.  Every  one  of  the 
older  industrial  towns  has  been  encrusted  in  layer 
upon  layer  of  foreign  accretions,  until  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  discover  the  American  core.  Everywhere  are 
the  physiognomy,  the  chatter,  and  the  aroma  of 
the  modern  steerage.  Lawrence,  Massachusetts,  is 


216  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

typical  of  this  change.  In  1848  it  had  5923  inhab- 
itants, of  whom  63.3  per  cent  were  Americans,  36 
per  cent  were  Irish,  and  about  forty  white  persons 
belonged  to  other  nationalities.  In  1910  the  same 
city  had  85,000  inhabitants,  of  whom  only  about 
14  per  cent  were  Americans,  and  the  rest  foreigners, 
two-thirds  of  the  old  and  one-third  of  the  new 
immigration. 

A  like  transformation  has  taken  place  in  the 
manufacturing  towns  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Delaware  and  in  the  iron  and  steel  towns  of 
Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  and  the  Middle  West. 
For  forty  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  first 
iron  furnace  in  Johnstown,  Pennsylvania,  in  1842, 
the  mills  were  manned  exclusively  by  Americans, 
English,  Welsh,  Irish,  and  Germans.  In  1880 
Slavic  names  began  to  appear  on  the  pay  rolls. 
Soon  thereafter  Italians  and  Syrians  were  brought 
into  the  town,  and  today  sixty  per  cent  of  the  popu- 
lation is  of  foreign  birth,  largely  from  southeastern 
Europe.  The  native  Americans  and  Welsh  live  in 
two  wards,  and  clustered  around  them  are  settle- 
ments of  Italians,  Slovaks,  and  Croatians. 

The  new  manufacturing  towns  which  are  de- 
pendent upon  some  single  industry  are  almost  whol- 
ly composed  of  recent  immigrants.  Gary,  Indiana, 


HUNGARIAN 

Photograph  copyright  by  Underwood  and  Underwood,  New  York. 


RUSSIAN  POLE 
Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 


ITALIAN 
Photograph  by  Lewis  W.  Hine. 


OUR  FOREIGNERS 

typical  of  this  change.  In  1848  it  had  5923  inhab- 
itants, of  whom  63.3  per  cent  were  Americans,  36 
per  cent  were  Irish/aWIS69Pforty  white  persons 

ttNlHff  AffflWI 


city  had  85,000  inhabitants,  of  whom  only  about 
14  per  cent  were  Americans,  and  the  rest  foreigners, 
two-thirds  of  the  old  and  one-third  of  the  new 
immigration. 

A  like  transformation  has  taken  place  in  the 
manufacturing  towns  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Delaware  and  in  the  iron  and  steel  towns  of 
Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  and  the  Middle  West. 
For  forty  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  first 
iron  furnace  in  JohMfiHw^tottisylvania,  in  1842, 
the  mills  weifeaKMd^fkiltynibfcJby  Americans, 
English,  Welsh,  Irish,  and  Germans.  In  1880 
Slavic  names  began  to  appear  on  the  pay  rolls. 
Soon  thereafter  Italians  and  Syrians  were  brought 
into  the  town,  and  today  sixty  par  ent  of  the  popu- 
lation is  of  foreign  birth,  largely  from  southeastern 
Europe.  The  native  Americans  and  Welsh  live  in 
two  wards,  and  clustered  around  them  are  settle- 
ments of  Italians,  Slovaks,  and  Croatians. 

The  new  manufacturing  towns  which  are  de- 
pendent upon  some  single  industry  are  almost  whol- 
ly composed  of  r^en'tTfflrfugrSnW^ary,  Indiana, 


RACIAL  INFILTRATION  217 

built  by  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  and 
Whiting,  Indiana,  established  by  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  for  its  refining  industry,  are  examples  of 
new  American  towns  of  exotic  populations.  At  a 
glass  factory  built  in  1890  in  the  village  of  Charleroi, 
Pennsylvania,  over  ten  thousand  Belgians,  French, 
Slavs,  and  Italians  now  labor.  An  example  of 
lightning-like  displacement  of  population  is  af- 
forded by  the  steel  and  iron  center  at  Granite  City 
and  Madison,  Illinois.  The  two  towns  are  prac- 
tically one  industrial  community,  although  they 
have  separate  municipal  organizations.  A  steel  mill 
was  erected  in  1892  upon  the  open  prairies,  and 
in  it  American,  Welsh,  Irish,  English,  German,  and 
Polish  workmen  were  employed.  In  1900  Slovaks 
were  brought  in,  and  two  years  later  there  came 
large  numbers  of  Magyars,  followed  by  Croatians. 
In  1905  Bulgarians  began  to  arrive,  and  within  two 
years  over  eight  thousand  had  assembled.  Arme- 
nians, Servians,  Greeks,  Magyars,  every  ethnic  fac- 
tion found  in  the  racial  welter  of  southeastern  Eu- 
rope, is  represented  among  the  twenty  thousand  in- 
habitants that  dwell  in  this  new  industrial  town. 
In  "Hungary  Hollow"  these  race  fragments  iso- 
late themselves,  effectively  insulated  against  the 
currents  of  American  influence. 


218  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  mining  communities  reveal  this  relative  dis- 
placement of  races  in  its  most  disheartening  form. 
As  early  as  1820  coal  was  taken  from  the  anthracite 
veins  of  northeastern  Pennsylvania,  but  until  1880 
the  industry  was  dominated  by  Americans  and 
north  Europeans.  In  1870  out  of  108,000  foreign 
born  in  this  region,  105,000  or  over  ninety-seven 
per  cent  came  from  England,  Wales,  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, and  Germany.  In  1880  a  change  began  and 
continued  until  in  1910  less  than  one- third  of  the 
267,000  foreign  born  were  of  northern  European 
extraction.  In  1870  there  were  only  306  Slavs 
and  Italians  in  the  entire  region;  in  1890  there  were 
43,000;  in  1909  there  were  89,000;  and  in  1910  the 
number  increased  to  178,000. 

Today  these  immigrants  from  the  south  of  Eu- 
rope have  virtually  displaced  the  miner  from  the 
north.  They  have  rooted  out  the  decencies  and 
comforts  of  the  earlier  operatives  and  have  sup- 
planted them  with  the  promiscuity,  the  filth,  and 
the  low  economic  standards  of  the  medieval  peas- 
ant. There  are  no  more  desolate  and  distressing 
places  in  America  than  the  miserable  mining 
"patches"  clinging  like  lichens  to  the  steep  hill- 
sides or  secluded  in  the  valleys  of  Pennsylvania. 
In  the  bituminous  fields  conditions  are  no  better. 


RACIAL  INFILTRATION  219 

In  the  town  of  Windber  in  western  Pennsylvania, 
for  example,  some  two  thousand  experienced  Eng- 
lish and  American  miners  were  engaged  in  opening 
the  veins  in  1897.  No  sooner  were  the  mines  in 
operation  than  the  south  European  began  to  drift 
in.  Today  he  outnumbers  and  underbids  the 
American  and  the  north  European.  He  lives  in 
isolated  sections,  reeking  with  everything  that 
keeps  him  a  "foreigner"  in  the  heart  of  Amer- 
ica. The  coal  regions  of  Virginia,  West  Virginia, 
Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois  and  the  ore  regions  of 
northern  Michigan  and  Minnesota  are  rapidly 
passing  under  the  same  influence. 

Every  mining  and  manufacturing  community  is 
thus  an  ethnic  pool,  whence  little  streams  of  for- 
eigners trickle  over  the  land.  These  isolated  min- 
ers and  tillers  of  the  soil  are  more  immune  to  Amer- 
ican ideals  than  are  their  city  dwelling  brethren. 
They  are  not  jostled  and  shaken  by  other  races; 
no  mental  contagion  of  democracy  reaches  them. 

But  within  the  towns  and  cities  another  process 
of  replacement  is  going  on.  Its  index  is  written 
large  in  the  signs  over  shops  and  stores  and  clearly 
in  the  lists  of  professional  men  in  the  city  director- 
ies and  in  the  pay  roll  of  the  public  school  teach- 
ers. The  unpronounceable  Slavic  combinations  of 


220  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

consonants  and  polysyllabic  Jewish  patronymics 
are  plentiful,  while  here  and  there  an  Italian  name 
makes  its  appearance.  The  second  generation  is 
arriving.  The  sons  and  daughters  are  leaving  the 
factory  and  the  construction  gang  for  the  counter, 
the  office,  and  the  schoolroom. 

American  ideals  and  institutions  have  borne  and 
can  bear  a  great  deal  of  foreign  infiltration.  But 
can  they  withstand  saturation? 


CHAPTER   XI 

THE   GUARDED   DOOR 

"WHOSOEVER  will  may  come"  was  the  generous 
welcome  which  America  extended  to  all  the  world 
for  over  a  century.  Many  alarms,  indeed,  there 
were  and  several  well-defined  movements  to  save 
America  from  the  foreigner.  The  first  of  these  at- 
tempts resulted  in  the  ill-fated  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws  of  1798,  which  extended  to  fourteen  years  the 
period  of  probation  before  a  foreigner  could  be  nat- 
uralized and  which  attempted  to  safeguard  the 
Government  against  defamatory  attacks.  The 
Jeffersonians,  who  came  into  power  in  1801  largely 
upon  the  issue  raised  by  this  attempt  to  curtail  free 
speech,  made  short  shrift  of  this  unpopular  law  and 
restored  the  term  of  residence  to  five  years.  The 
second  anti-foreign  movement  found  expression  in 
the  Know-Nothing  party,  which  rose  in  the  decade 
preceding  the  Civil  War.  The  third  movement 
brought  about  a  secret  order  called  the  American 

291 


222  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Protective  Association,  popularly  known  as  the 
A.  P.  A.,  which,  like  the  Know-Nothing  hysteria, 
was  aimed  primarily  at  the  Catholic  Church.  Its 
platform  stated  that  "the  conditions  growing  out 
of  our  immigration  laws  are  such  as  to  weaken  our 
democratic  institutions,"  and  that  "the  immigrant 
vote,  under  the  direction  of  certain  ecclesiastical 
institutions, "  controlled  politics.  In  1896  the  or- 
ganization claimed  two  and  a  half  million  ad- 
herents, and  the  air  was  vibrant  with  ominous 
rumors  of  impending  events.  But  nothing  hap- 
pened. The  A.  P.  A.  disappeared  suddenly  and 
left  no  trace. 

For  over  a  century  it  was  almost  universally  be- 
lieved that  the  prosperity  of  the  country  depended 
largely  upon  a  copious  influx  of  population.  This 
sentiment  found  expression  in  President  Lincoln's 
message  to  Congress  on  December  8,  1863,  in 
which  he  called  immigration  a  "source  of  national 
wealth  and  strength  "  and  urged  Congress  to  estab- 
lish "a  system  for  the  encouragement  of  immigra- 
tion." In  conformity  with  this  suggestion,  Con- 
gress passed  a  law  designed  to  aid  the  importa- 
tion of  labor  under  contract.  But  the  measure 
was  soon  repealed,  so  that  it  remains  the  only  in- 
stance in  American  history  in  which  the  Federal 


THE  GUARDED  DOOR  223 

Government  attempted  the  direct  encouragement 
of  general  immigration. z 

It  was  in  1819  that  the  first  Federal  law  pertain- 
ing to  immigration  was  passed.  It  was  not 
prompted  by  any  desire  to  regulate  or  restrict  im- 
migration, but  aimed  rather  to  correct  the  terrible 
abuses  to  which  immigrants  were  subject  on  ship- 
board. So  crowded  and  unwholesome  were  these 
quarters  that  a  substantial  percentage  of  all  the  im- 
migrants who  embarked  for  America  perished  dur- 
ing the  voyage.  The  law  provided  that  ships  could 
carry  only  two  passengers  for  every  five  tons  bur- 
den; it  enjoined  a  sufficient  supply  of  water  and 
food  for  crew  and  passengers;  and  it  required  the 
captains  of  vessels  to  prepare  lists  of  their  passen- 
gers giving  age,  sex,  occupation,  and  the  country 
whence  they  came.  The  law,  however  good  its 
intention,  was  loosely  drawn  and  indifferently 
enforced.  Terrible  abuses  of  steerage  passengers 
crowded  into  miserable  quarters  were  constantly 
brought  to  the  public  notice.  From  time  to  time 
the  law  was  amended,  and  the  advent  of  steam 
navigation  brought  improved  conditions  without, 
however,  adequate  provision  for  Federal  inspection. 

1  Congress  has  on  several  occasions  granted  aid  for  specific 
colonies  or  groups  of  immigrants. 


224  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Indeed  such  supervision  and  care  as  immigrants 
received  was  provided  by  the  various  States.  Bos- 
ton, New  York,  Baltimore,  and  other  ports  of  en- 
try, found  helpless  hordes  left  at  their  doors.  They 
were  the  prey  of  loan  sharks  and  land  sharks,  of 
fake  employment  agencies,  and  every  conceivable 
form  of  swindler.  Private  relief  was  organized,  but 
it  could  reach  only  a  small  portion  of  the  needy. 
About  three-fourths  of  the  immigrants  disem- 
barked at  the  port  of  New  York,  and  upon  the 
State  of  New  York  was  imposed  the  obligation  of 
looking  after  the  thousands  of  strangers  who  landed 
weekly  at  the  Battery.  To  cope  with  these  con- 
ditions the  State  devised  a  comprehensive  system 
and  entrusted  its  enforcement  to  a  Board  of  Com- 
missioners of  Immigration,  erected  hospitals  on 
Ward's  Island  for  sick  and  needy  immigrants,  and 
in  1855  leased  for  a  landing  place  Castle  Garden, 
which  at  once  became  the  popular  synonym  for  the 
nation's  gateway.  Here  the  Commissioners  ex- 
amined and  registered  the  immigrants,  placed  at 
then*  disposal  physicians,  money  changers,  trans- 
portation agents,  and  advisers,  and  extended  to 
them  a  helping  hand.  The  Federal  Government 
was  represented  only  by  the  customs  officers  who 
ransacked  their  baggage. 


THE  GUARDED  DOOR  225 

In  1875  the  Federal  Supreme  Court  decided  that 
it  was  unconstitutional  for  a  State  to  regulate  im- 
migration. "We  are  of  the  opinion,"  said  the 
Court,  "that  this  whole  subject  has  been  confided 
to  Congress  by  the  Constitution;  that  Congress 
can  more  appropriately  and  with  more  acceptance 
exercise  it  than  any  other  body  known  to  our  law, 
state  or  national;  that,  by  providing  a  system  of 
laws  in  these  matters  applicable  to  all  ports  and  to 
all  vessels,  a  serious  question  which  has  long  been 
a  matter  of  contest  and  complaint  may  be  effec- 
tively and  satisfactorily  settled. " x  Congress  dal- 
lied seven  years  with  this  important  question,  and 
was  finally  forced  to  act  when  New  York  threat- 
ened to  close  Castle  Garden.  In  1882  a  Federal 
immigration  law  assessed  a  head  tax  of  fifty  cents 
on  every  passenger,  not  a  citizen,  coming  to  the 
United  States,  and  provided  that  the  States  should 
share  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  obli- 
gation of  its  enforcement.  This  law  inaugurated 
the  policy  of  selective  immigration,  as  it  excluded 
convicts,  lunatics,  idiots,  and  persons  likely  to  be- 
come a  public  charge.  Three  years  later,  contract 
laborers  were  also  excluded. 

1  Henderson  et  al.  vs.  The  Mayor  of  New  York  City  et  al.  9* 
U.S.,  259. 
IS 


226  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

The  unprecedented  influx  of  immigrants  now 
began  to  arouse  public  discussion.  Over  788,000 
arrived  in  America  during  the  first  year  the  new 
law  was  in  operation.  In  1889  both  the  Senate  and 
the  House  appointed  standing  committees  on  im- 
migration. The  several  investigations  which  were 
held  culminated  in  the  law  of  1891,  wherein  the  list 
of  ineligibles  was  extended  to  include  persons  suf- 
fering from  a  loathsome  or  contagious  disease,  poly- 
gamists,  and  persons  assisted  in  coming  by  others, 
unless  upon  special  inquiry  they  were  found  not  to 
belong  to  any  of  the  excluded  classes.  Thus  for 
the  first  time  the  Federal  Government  assumed 
complete  control  of  immigration.  Now  also  both 
the  great  political  parties  adopted  planks  in  their 
national  platforms  favoring  the  restriction  of  im- 
migration. The  Republicans  favored  "the  enact- 
ment of  more  stringent  laws  and  regulations  for  the 
restriction  of  criminal,  pauper,  and  contract  immi- 
gration."  The  Democrats  "heartily"  approved 
"all  legislative  efforts  to  prevent  the  United  States 
from  being  used  as  a  dumping  ground  for  the 
known  criminals  and  professional  paupers  of  Eu- 
rope," and  they  favored  the  exclusion  of  Chinese 
laborers.  They  favored,  however,  the  admission 
of  "industrious  and  worthy"  Europeans. 


THE  GUARDED  DOOR  227 

Selective  immigration  thus  became  a  political 
issue  in  1892,  partly  under  the  stimulus  of  labor  un- 
ions, which  feared  an  over-supply  of  labor,  and 
partly  because  of  the  growing  popular  belief  that 
many  undesirable  foreigners  were  entering  the 
country.  No  adequate  and  just  criteria  for  any 
process  of  selection  have  been  discovered.  In  1896 
Senator  Lodge  introduced  an  immigration  bill, 
which  contained  the  famous  literacy  test,  excluding 
all  persons  between  fourteen  and  sixty  years  of 
age  "who  cannot  both  read  and  write  the  English 
language  or  some  other  language. "  The  bill  was 
simultaneously  introduced  into  the  House  of  Re- 
presentatives by  McCall  of  Massachusetts.  The 
debate  on  this  measure  marks  a  new  departure  in 
immigration  policy.  A  senatorial  inquiry  made 
among  the  States  in  the  preceding  year  had  dis- 
closed a  universal  preference  for  immigrants  from 
northern  Europe.  Moreover,  a  number  of  States 
through  their  governors,  had  declared  that  further 
immigration  was  not  desired  immediately;  and  the 
opinion  prevailed  that  the  great  influx  from  south- 
eastern Europe  should  be  checked.  Fortified  by 
such  solidarity  of  sentiment,  Congress  passed  the 
Lodge  bill  with  certain  amendments.  President 
Cleveland,  however,  returned  it  with  a  strong  veto 


228  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

message  on  March  2,  1897.  He  could  not  concur 
in  so  radical  a  departure  from  the  traditional  liberal 
policy  of  the  Government;  and  he  believed  the  lit- 
eracy test  so  artificial  that  it  was  more  rational 
"to  admit  a  hundred  thousand  immigrants  who, 
though  unable  to  read  and  write,  seek  among  us 
only  a  home  and  opportunity  to  work,  than  to  ad- 
mit one  of  those  unruly  agitators  and  enemies  of 
governmental  control  who  can  not  only  read  and 
write,  but  delights  in  arousing  by  inflammatory 
speech  the  illiterate  and  peacefully  inclined  to  dis- 
content and  tumult. "  The  House  passed  the  bill 
over  the  President's  veto,  but  the  Senate  took  no 
further  action. 

In  1898  the  Industrial  Commission  was  empow- 
ered "to  investigate  questions  pertaining  to  immi- 
gration" and  presented  a  report  which  prepared 
the  way  for  the  immigration  law  of  1903,  approved 
on  the  3rd  of  March.  This  law,  which  was  based 
upon  a  careful  preliminary  inquiry,  may  be  called 
the  first  comprehensive  American  immigration 
statute.  It  perfected  the  administrative  machin- 
ery, raised  the  head  tax,  and  multiplied  the  vig- 
ilance of  the  Government  against  evasions  by  the 
excluded  classes.  Anarchists  and  prostitutes  were 
added  to  the  list  of  excluded  persons.  The  literacy 


THE  GUARDED  DOOR  229 

test  was  inserted  by  the  House  but  was  rejected  by 
the  Senate. 

This  law,  however,  did  not  allay  the  demand  for 
a  more  stringent  restriction  of  immigration.  A  few 
persons  believed  in  stopping  immigration  entirely 
for  a  period  of  years.  Others  would  limit  the  num- 
ber of  immigrants  that  should  be  permitted  to  en- 
ter every  year.  But  it  was  felt  throughout  the 
country  that  such  arbitrary  checks  would  be  mere- 
ly quantitative,  not  qualitative,  and  that  undesir- 
able foreigners  should  be  denied  admission,  no  mat- 
ter what  country  they  hailed  from.  A  notable 
immigration  conference  which  was  called  by  the 
National  Civic  Federation  in  December,  1905,  and 
which  represented  all  manner  of  public  bodies,  re- 
commended the  "exclusion  of  persons  of  enfeebled 
vitality  "  and  proposed  "  a  preliminary  inspection  of 
intending  immigrants  before  they  embark. ' '  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  laid  the  whole  matter  before  Con- 
gress in  several  vigorous  messages  in  1906  and  1907. 
He  pointed  to  the  fact  that 

In  the  year  ending  June  30,  1905,  there  came  to  the 
United  States  1,026,000  alien  immigrants.  In  other 
words,  in  the  single  year  .  .  .  there  came  ...  a 
greater  number  of  people  than  came  here  during  the 
one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  years  of  our  colonial  life. 


230  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

• 

...  It  is  clearly  shown  in  the  report  of  the  Com- 
missioner General  of  Immigration  that,  while  much 
of  this  enormous  immigration  is  undoubtedly  healthy 
and  natural  ...  a  considerable  proportion  of  it,  prob- 
ably a  very  large  proportion,  including  most  of  the  un- 
desirable class,  does  not  come  here  of  its  own  initiative 
but  because  of  the  activity  of  the  agents  of  the  great 
transportation  companies.  .  .  .  The  prime  need  is 
to  keep  out  all  immigrants  who  will  not  make  good 
American  citizens. 

In  consonance  with  this  spirit,  the  law  of  1907 
was  passed.  It  increased  the  head  tax  to  four  dol- 
lars and  provided  rigid  scrutiny  over  the  transpor- 
tation companies.  The  excluded  classes  of  immi- 
grants were  minutely  defined,  and  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigra- 
tion were  very  considerably  enlarged.  The  act 
also  created  the  Immigration  Commission,  consist- 
ing of  three  Senators,  three  members  of  the  House, 
and  three  persons  appointed  by  the  President, 
for  making  "full  inquiry,  examination,  and  in- 
vestigation .  .  .  into  the  subject  of  immigra- 
tion." Endowed  with  plenary  power,  this  commis- 
sion made  a  comprehensive  investigation  of  the 
whole  question.  The  President  was  authorized  to 
"send  special  commissioners  to  any  foreign  coun- 
try for  the  purpose  of  regulating  by  international 


THE  GUARDED  DOOR  231 

agreement  .  .  .  the  immigration  of  aliens  to  the 
United  States." 

Here  at  last  is  congressional  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  immigration  is  no  longer  merely  a  domes- 
tic question,  but  that  it  has,  through  modern  eco- 
nomic conditions,  become  one  of  serious  interna- 
tional import.  No  treaties  have  been  perfected 
under  this  authority.  The  question,  however,  re- 
ceived serious  attention  in  1909  when  Lieutenant 
Joseph  Petrosino  of  the  New  York  police  was  mur- 
dered in  Sicily  by  banditti,  whither  he  had  pursued 
a  Black  Hand  criminal  from  the  East  Side. 

In  the  meantime  many  measures  for  restricting 
immigration  were  suggested  in  Congress.  Of  these, 
the  literacy  test  met  with  the  most  favor.  Three 
times  in  recent  years  Congress  enacted  it  into  law, 
and  each  time  it  was  returned  with  executive  dis- 
approval: President  Taft  vetoed  the  provision 
in  1913,  and  President  Wilson  vetoed  the  acts  of 
1915  and  1917.  In  his  last  veto  message  on  Jan- 
uary 29,  1917,  President  Wilson  said  that  "the 
literacy  test  ...  is  not  a  test  of  character,  of 
quality,  or  of  personal  fitness,  but  would  operate  in 
most  cases  merely  as  a  penalty  for  lack  of  oppor- 
tunity in  the  country  from  which  the  alien  seeking 
admission  came. " 


232  OUR  FOREIGNERS 

Congress,  however,  promptly  passed  the  bill  over 
the  President's  objections,  and  so  twenty  years 
after  President  Cleveland's  veto  of  the  Lodge  Bill, 
the  literacy  test  became  the  standard  of  fitness  for 
immigrant  admission  into  the  United  States. x  The 
law  excludes  all  aliens  over  sixteen  years  of  age  who 
are  physically  capable  of  reading  and  yet  who  can- 
not read.  They  are  required  to  read  "not  less  than 
thirty  or  more  than  eighty  words  in  ordinary  use" 
in  the  English  language  or  some  other  language  or 
dialect.  Aliens  who  seek  admission  because  of  re- 
ligious persecution,  and  certain  relatives  of  citizens 
or  of  admissible  aliens,  are  exempted. 

The  debate  upon  this  law  disclosed  the  trans- 
formation that  has  come  over  the  nation  in  its  atti- 
tude towards  the  alien.  Exclusion  was  the  domi- 
nant word.  Senator  Reed  of  Missouri  wished  to 
exclude  African  immigrants;  the  Pacific  coast  Re- 
presentatives insisted  upon  exclusion  of  Asiatics, 
in  the  face  of  serious  admonitions  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  that  such  a  course  would  cause  interna- 
tional friction;  the  labor  members  were  scornful 
in  their  denunciation  of  "the  pauper  and  criminal 
classes"  of  Europe.  The  traditional  liberal  sym- 
pathies of  the  American  people  found  but  few 

1  The  new  act  took  effect  May  1,  1917. 


THE  GUARDED  DOOR  233 

champions,  so  completely  had  the  change  been 
wrought  in  the  thirty  years  since  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment assumed  control  of  immigration. 

By  these  tokens  the  days  of  unlimited  freedom 
hi  migration  are  numbered.  Nations  are  begin- 
ning to  realize  that  immigration  is  but  the  obverse 
of  emigration.  Its  dual  character  constitutes  a 
problem  requiring  delicate  international  readjust- 
ments. Moreover,  the  countries  released  to  a  new 
life  and  those  quickened  to  a  new  industrialism  by 
the  Great  War  will  need  to  employ  all  their  muscle 
and  talents  at  home. 

It  is  an  inspiring  drama  of  colonization  that  has 
been  enacted  on  this  continent  in  a  relatively  short 
period.  Its  like  was  never  witnessed  before  and 
can  never  be  witnessed  again.  Thirty-three  na- 
tionalities were  represented  in  the  significant  group 
of  American  pilgrims  that  gathered  at  Mount  Ver- 
non  on  July  4,  1918,  to  place  garlands  of  native 
flowers  upon  the  tomb  of  Washington  and  to  pledge 
then*  honor  and  loyalty  to  the  nation  of  their  adop- 
tion. This  event  is  symbolic  of  the  great  fact  that 
the  United  States  is,  after  all,  a  nation  of  immi- 
grants, among  whom  the  word  foreigner  is  descrip- 
tive of  an  attitude  of  mind  rather  than  of  a  place 
of  birth. 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

GENERAL  HISTORIES 

EDWARD  CHANNING,  History  of  the  United  States,  4  vols. 
(1905).  Vol.  ii.  Chapter  xiv  contains  a  fascinating 
account  of  "The  Coming  of  the  Foreigner." 

John  Fiske,  Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies  in  America, 
2  vols.  (1899).  The  story  of  "The  Migration  of  the 
Sects"  is  charmingly  told. 

John  B.  McMaster,  History  of  the  People  of  the  Unit- 
ed States,  8  vols.  (1883-1913).  Scattered  throughout 
the  eight  volumes  are  copious  accounts  of  the  coming 
of  immigrants,  from  the  year  of  American  independ- 
ence to  the  Civil  War.  The  great  German  and  Irish 
inundations  are  dealt  with  in  volumes  vi  and  vii. 

J.  H.  Latane,  America  a*  a  World  Power  (1907). 
Chapter  xvn  gives  a  concise  summary  of  immigration 
for  the  years  1880-1907. 

WORKS  ON  IMMIGRATION 

Reports  of  the  Immigration  Commission,  appointed 
under  the  Congressional  Act  of  Feb.  SO,  1907.  42  vols. 
(1911).  This  is  by  far  the  most  exhaustive  study  that 
has  been  made  of  the  immigration  question.  It  em- 
braces a  wide  range  of  details,  especially  upon  the 
economic  and  sociological  aspects  of  the  problem. 

235 


236  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Census  Bureau,  A  Century  of  Population  Growth  from 
the  First  Census  of  the  United  States  to  the  Twelfth, 
1790-1900  (1909).  The  best  analysis  of  the  population 
of  the  United  States.  It  contains  a  number  of  chapters 
on  the  population  at  the  time  of  the  First  Census  in  1 790. 

John  R.  Commons,  Races  and  Immigrants  in  America 
(1907). 

Prescott  F.  Hall,  Immigration  and  its  Effects  upon 
the  United  States  (1906). 

Henry  P.  Fairchild,  Immigration,  a  World  Movement 
and  its  American  Significance  (1913).  A  good  histor- 
ical survey  of  immigration  as  well  as  a  suggestive 
discussion  of  its  sociological  and  economic  bearings. 

Jeremiah  W.  Jenks  and  W.  Jett  Lauck,  The  Immi- 
gration Problem  (1913).  A  summary  of  the  Report  of 
the  Immigration  Commission. 

Peter  Roberts,  The  New  Immigration  (1912).  A 
discussion  of  the  recent  influx  from  Southeastern 
Europe. 

E.  A.  Ross,  The  Old  World  in  the  New  (1914)  contains 
some  refreshing  racial  characteristics. 

Richmond  Mayo-Smith,  Emigration  and  Immi- 
gration (1890).  This  is  one  of  the  oldest  American 
works  on  the  subject  and  remains  the  best  scientific 
discussion  of  the  sociological  and  economic  aspects  of 
immigration. 

Edward  A.  Steiner,  On  the  Trail  of  the  Immigrant 
(1906).  A  popular  and  sympathetic  account  of  the 
new  immigration. 

THE  NEGRO 

B.  G.  Brawley,  A  Short  History  of  the  American 
Negro  (1913). 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  237 

W.  E.  B.  Du  Bois,  The  Negro  (1915).  A  small  well- 
written  volume,  with  a  useful  bibliography  and  an 
illuminating  chapter  on  the  negro  in  the  United  States; 
also,  by  the  same  author,  Suppression  of  the  African 
Slave  Trade  (1896). 

Carter  G.  Woodson,  A  Century  of  Negro  Migration 
(1918). 

J.  R.  Spears,  The  American  Slave  Trade  (1900). 

A.  H.  Stone,  Studies  in  the  American  Race  Prob- 
lem (1908).  Contains  several  of  Walter  F.  Wilcox's 
valuable  statistical  studies  on  this  subject. 

J.  A.  Tillinghast,  The  Negro  in  Africa  and  America 
(1902)  contains  a  suggestive  comparison  of  negro  life 
in  Africa  and  America. 

SPECIAL  GROUPS 

Kendrick  C.  Babcock,  The  Scandinavian  Element  in 
the  United  States  (1914).  The  best  treatise  on  this 
subject. 

Emily  Greene  Balch,  Our  Slavic  Fellow  Citizens 
(1910).  A  comprehensive  study  of  the  Slav  in  America. 

J.  M.  Campbell,  A  History  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of 
St.  Patrick  (1892). 

Mary  Roberts  Coolidge,  Chinese  Immigration 
(1909).  A  sympathetic  and  detailed  account  of  the 
Chinaman's  experience  in  America. 

A.  B.  Faust,  The  German  Element  in  the  United 
States.  2vols.  (1909).  Like  some  other  books  written 
to  prove  the  vast  influence  of  certain  elements  of  the 
population,  this  work  is  not  modest  in  its  claims. 

Henry  Jones  Ford,  The  Scotch-Irish  in  America 
(1915). 


238  BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE 

Lucian  J.  Fosdick,  The  French  Blood  in  America  (1906) . 
Devoted  principally  to  the  Huguenot  exiles  and  their 
descendants. 

Charles  A.  Hanna,  The  Scotch-Irish,  or  the  Scot  in 
North  Britain,  North  Ireland,  and  North  America.  2 
vols.  (1902). 

Eliot  Lord,  John  J.  D.  Trevor,  and  Samuel  J. 
Barrows,  The  Italian  in  America  (1905). 

T.  D'Arcy  McGee,  History  of  the  Irish  Settlers  in 
North  America  (1852). 

O.  N.  Nelson,  History  of  the  Scandinavians  and 
Successful  Scandinavians  in  the  United  States,  2  vols. 
(1900). 

J.  G.  Rosengarten,  French  Colonists  and  Exiles  in 
the  United  States  (1907).  Contains  an  interesting  bib- 
liography of  French  writings  on  early  American  condi- 
tions. 

UTOPIAS 

J.  A.  Bole,  The  Harmony  Society  (1904).  Besides 
a  concise  history  of  the  Rappists,  this  volume  con- 
tains many  letters  and  documents  illustrative  of  their 
customs  and  business  methods. 

W.  A.  Hinds,  American  Communities  and  Coopera- 
tive Colonies.  (2d  revision  1908.)  A  useful  summary 
based  on  personal  observations. 

G.  B.  Lockwood,  The  New  Harmony  Communities 
(1902).  It  contains  a  detailed  description  of  Owen's 
experiment  and  interesting  details  of  the  Rappists 
during  their  sojourn  in  Indiana. 

M.  A.  Mikkelsen,  The  Bishop  Hill  Colony,  A  Religi- 
ous Communistic  Settlement  in  Henry  County,  Illinois 
(1802). 


BIBLIOGRAPHICAL  NOTE  239 

Charles  Nordhoff,  The  Communistic  Societies  of  the 
United  States  (1875).  A  description  of  communities 
visited  by  the  author. 

J.  H.  Noyes,  History  of  American  Socialisms  (1870). 

W.  R.  Perkins,  History  of  the  Amana  Society  or 
Community  of  True  Inspiration  (1891). 

E.  O.  Randall,  History  of  the  Zoar  Society  (2ded.  1900) . 

Bertha  M.  Shambaugh,  Amana,  the  Community  of 
True  Inspiration  (1908)  gives  many  interesting  details. 

Albert  Shaw,  Icaria,  a  Chapter  in  the  History  of 
Communism  (1884).  A  brilliant  account. 


INDEX 


A.  P.  A.,  see  American  Protec- 
tive Association 

Acadia,  French  in,  18 

Adams,  J.  Q.,  and  Owen,  94 

Afghans  in  United  States,  207 

Africans,  Reed  favors  exclusion 
of,  232;  see  also  Negroes 

Alabama  admitted  as  State 
(1819),  33 

Albany,  Shakers  settle  near, 
91;  Irish  in,  113 

Alien  and  Sedition  laws  (1798), 
221 

Amana,  82-84 

America,  cosmopolitan  char- 
acter, 19-20;  American  stock, 
21  et  seq.;  origin  of  name,  21- 
22;  now  applied  to  United 
States,  22;  Shakers  confined 
to,  92;  "America  for  Amer- 
icans," 114;  see  also  United 
States 

American  Celt,  McGee  estab- 
lishes, 120  (note) 

American  Missionary  Associa- 
tion, work  with  negroes,  58 

American  party,  114;  see  also 
Know-Nothing  party 

American  Protective  Associa- 
tion, 221-22 

Amish,  68  (note) 

Anabaptists  in  Manhattan, 
17 

Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians, 
117 

Angell,  J.  B.,  on  commission  to 
negotiate  treaty  with  China, 
198 


Antwerp,    German    emigrants 

embark  at,  134 
Arkansas,  frontiersmen  in,  36; 

chosen  as  site  by  Giessener 

Gesellschaft,  136;  Italians  in, 

211;  Slavs  in,  213 
Armenians,    184;   as   laborers, 

122;  at  Granite  City  (111.). 

217 

Arthur,  C.  A.,  and  Chinese  ex- 
clusion act,  199 
Asiatics,   Pacific  coast  favors 

exclusion   of,    232;   see   also 

Orientals 
Australia  deflects  migration  to 

United  States,  150 

Babcock,  K.  C.,  The  Scandi- 
navian Element  in  the  United 
States,  quoted,  158 

Balch,  E.  G.,  Our  Slavic  Fellow 
Citizens,  quoted,  164-65; 
cited,  167  (note),  174 

Baltimore,  Ephrata  draws  pu- 
pils from,  71;  Irish  immi- 
grant association,  109;  Irish 
in,  113;  Germans  in,  127; 
Italians  in,  180;  condition  of 
immigrants  landing  in,  224 

Bancroft,  George,  estimates 
number  of  slaves,  47 

Barlow,  Joel,  151 

Baumeler,  see  Bimeler 

Bayard,  Nicholas,  16 

Beissel,  Conrad  (or  Beizel,  or 
Peysel),  70,  71 

Belgians  in  Charleroi  (Penn.), 
217 


16 


241 


242 


INDEX 


Berkshire*,  Germans  in,  127 

Bethlehem,  communistic  col- 
ony, 72 

Bimeler,  Joseph  (or  Baumeler), 
78-79 

Bishop  Hill  Colony,  85-89 

Black  Hand,  182 

"Boat  Load  of  Knowledge," 
04 

Bogart,  E.  L.,  Economic  His- 
tory of  the  United  States, 
cited,  52  (note) 

Bohemians,  in  United  States, 
159-60,  165-66;  as  North 
Slavs,  164;  on  the  prairies, 
213;  on  Pacific  slope,  213 

Boston,  immigrants  from  Ire- 
land (1714-20),  11;  French 
in,  16;  Irish  in,  108,  113; 
Germans  in,  127;  Italians  in, 
180;  condition  of  immigrants 
landing  in,  224 

Boudinot,  Elias,  16 

Bowdoin,  James,  16 

Bremen,  German  emigrants 
embark  at,  134 

Bremer,  Frederika,  quoted, 
155 

Brisbane,  Arthur,  Social  Des- 
tiny of  Man,  06 

Brook  Farm,  07 

Bryan,  W.  J.,  Secretary  of 
State,  and  California  Alien 
Land  Act,  206 

Bryan  (Tex.)  Italian  colony, 
211 

Buffalo,  Inspirationists  near, 
81 ;  Irish  in,  1 13 ;  Germans  in, 
135;  Polea  in,  167  (note) 

Bulgarians,  as  South  Slavs, 
164;  in  United  States,  170; 
in  Granite  City  (111.),  170, 
217 

Burlingame,  Anson,  105 

Burlingame  treaty,  105-06, 197 

Burschenschaften,  131 

Butler  County  (Penn.),  Har- 
monists in,  73 

Butte,  Bulgarians  in,  170 


Cabet,  Etienne,  97-98,  99, 
100;  Voyage  en  Icarie,  08; 
Le  Populaire,  98 

Cabinet,  President's,  majority 
of  members  from  American 
stock,  42 

Cabot,  John,  2 

Cabot,  Sebastian,  2 

Cahokia,  French  settlement, 
152 

California,  frontiersmen  in,  36, 
37;  Icaria-Speranza  com- 
munity, 101;  Swiss  in,  153; 
Dalmatians  in,  171;  Portu- 
guese in,  184;  discovery  of 
gold,  188;  Chinese  in,  189- 
190;  "California  for  Amer- 
icans," 190;  constitution 
(1870),  104;  legislation 
against  Chinese,  194-95;  vote 
for  Garfield  (1880),  197 
(note);  Japanese  in,  203; 
Alien  Land  Act  (1913),  206; 
Italians  in,  211 

Campo  Hello,  Island,  Fenians 
attempt  to  land  on,  119 

Canada,  fugitive  slaves,  54; 
Irish  come  through,  109; 
Fenian  raids,  120;  deflects 
migration  to  United  States, 
150 

Carbonari,  Cabet  and,  08 

Carolinas,  English  settle,  5; 
Scotch-Irish  in,  12;  Scotch 
in,  12;  Germans  in,  14;  cosmo- 
politan character  of,  18; 
Irish  in,  105;  see  also  North 
Carolina,  South  Carolina 

Castle  Garden,  landing  place 
for  immigrants  in  New  York, 
224,  225 

Catholics,  in  Maryland,  13; 
Irish,  114;  prejudice  against, 
115-16;  American  Protec- 
tive Association  against,  222 

Census  (1790),  24-25,  29; 
A  Century  of  Population 
Growth  (1909),  24;  (1800), 
25;  tables,  26-28;  (1900),  88- 


INDEX 


243 


Census — Continued 

39;  slaves  in  United  States, 
47;  Bulletin  No.  129, 
Negroes  in  the  United  States, 
cited,  61  (note);  (1910), 
Germans  in  United  States. 
125;  foreigners  in  United 
States,  125-26  (note);  for- 
eign born  on  farms,  150-51 
(note),  161;  Italians  in  New 
York  City,  180  (note);  dis- 
tribution of  American  white 
population,  187 

Channing,  Edward,  History  of 
the  United  States,  quoted, 
46-47 

Charleroi  (Penn.),  foreigners 
in,  217 

Charleston  (S.  C.)»  French  in, 
16;  Germans  in,  127 

Charlestown  (Mass.),  Ursuline 
convent  burned,  116 

Cheltenham,  Icarians  in,  100 

Chestnutt,  C.  W.t  negro  novel- 
ist, 64 

Chicago,  Irish  in,  113;  Ger- 
mans in,  135;  Bohemians  in, 
165;  Poles  in,  167  (note); 
Bulgarians  in,  170;  Hunga- 
rian Jews  in,  178;  Italians  in, 
180;  papers  announce  land 
for  sale,  209 

Chicopee,  Poles  in,  214 

China,  Burlingame  treaty,  195- 
196,  197;  treaty  (1880),  198- 
199;  treaty  (1894),  202 

Chinese,  in  United  States,  188- 
203;  societies,  192;  mission 
to  United  States  (1868),  195; 
exclusion  act,  199,  201; 
Scott  Act,  201 ;  Geary  law,  201 

Cincinnati,  Irish  in,  113;  Ger- 
man center,  135 

Cities,  immigration  to,  162  et 
seq.\  cosmopolitanism,  185; 
racial  changes  in,  219-20 

Civil  Rights  Act,  59 

Civil  War,  German  immigrants 
during,  130 


Cleveland,  Grover,  messages  to 
Congress  on  Chinese  agita- 
tion, 201;  vetoes  Lodge  bill* 
227-28 

Cleveland,  Irish  in,  118;  Ger- 
mans in,  185;  Bohemians  in, 
165;  Italians  in,  180 

Cooalico  River,  cloister  of 
Ephrata  on,  70 

Colorado,  Japanese  in,  204 

Coman,  Industrial  History  of 
the  United  States,  cited,  52 
(note) 

Communistic  colonies,  67  et 
seq.;  Labadists,  68-69;  Pie- 
tists, 69-70;  Ephrata,  70- 
72;  Snow  Hill,  72;  Bethle- 
hem, 72;  Harmonist,  72-77; 
Harmony,  78;  New  Har- 
mony, 74-75,  94-96;  Econ- 
omy, 75-77;  Zoar,  78-80; 
Inspirationists,  80-84;  Eben- 
ezer.81;  Amana,  82-84;  Bish- 
op Hill  Colony,  85-89;  Old 
Elmspring  Community,  89- 
90;  Shakers,  91-92;  Oneida 
Community,  92-93;  Robert 
Owen  and,  94-96;  Brook 
Farm,  97;  Fourierism,  96- 
97,  101-02;  Icaria,  97-101; 
bibliography,  238-39 

Congress,  noted  members  from 
American  stock,  42;  author- 
izes Freedmen's  Bureau 
(1865),  57;  immigration  law 
(1819),  103;  laws  against 
German  newspapers,  144; 
German-American  League 
incorporated  by,  145;  char- 
ter of  German-American 
League  revoked,  145;  Home- 
stead Law  (1862),  148; 
grants  land  to  French,  152; 
Cleveland's  special  messages, 
201;  Scott  Act,  201;  Geary 
law,  201;  extends  Chinese 
exclusion  to  Hawaii  (1898), 
202;  Lincoln's  message,  Dec. 
8,  1863,  222;  and  regulation 


244 


INDEX 


Congress — Continued 

of  immigration,  225;  Lodge 
bill,  227-28;  Roosevelt's 
messages,  229 

Connecticut,  Shakers  in,  91 

Connecticut  Valley,  Poles  in. 
214-15 

Considerant,  Victor,  101 

Constantinople,  cosmopolitan- 
ism compared  with  American 
cities,  186 

Constitution,  Fifteenth  Amend- 
ment, 59 

Coolidge,  M.  R.,  Chinese  Immi- 
gration, quoted,  192, 193-94 

Cotton,  effect  on  slavery,  62 

Coxsackie  (N.  Y.),  communis- 
tic attempt  at,  96 

Croatians,  as  South  Slavs,  164; 
in  United  States,  171,  172; 
in  Johustown  (Penn.)»  216; 
in  Granite  City  (111.),  217 

Cumberland  (Wis.),  Italian 
colony,  212 

Cumberland  Mountains,  fugi- 
tive slaves  in,  54 

Dakotas,  frontiersmen  in,  36; 
Germans  in,  141;  Scandi- 
navians in,  156,  157;  "Scan- 
dinavian language"  in  uni- 
versities, 158-59;  Slavs  in, 
213;  see  also  South  Dakota 

Dallas  (Tex.),  Italians  in,  211 

Dalmatians,  as  South  Slavs, 
164;  in  United  States,  171- 
172;  on  Pacific  slope,  213 

Danes,  in  America,  154,  156; 
character,  154;  see  also  Scan- 
dinavians 

DeLancey,  Stephen,  16 

Delaware,  not  represented  in 
first  census,  25;  second  cen- 
sus (1800),  25;  Labadists  in, 
68-69;  Scandinavian  colony, 
156;  racial  changes  in  manu- 
facturing towns,  216 

Democratic  party  on  restric- 
tion of  immigration,  226 


Denver,      anti-Chinese      riots, 

197-98  (note) 
Detroit,  Irish  in,  113;  German* 

in,  135;  Poles  in,  167  (note); 

Italians  in,  180 
Devotionalists,  85-89,  90 
Douglass,  Frederick,  64 
DuBois,  W.  E.  B.,  negro  schol- 
ar, 64 
Duluth,  Finnish  college  near, 

160 

Dunbar,  P.  L.,  negro  poet,  64 
Dunkards,  70 
Bunkers,  13 
Dutch,  in  United  States,  17- 

18;   number  of  immigrants, 

153 

Ebenezer  Society,  81 

Economy,  Harmonists  estab- 
lish, 75;  Rapp  as  leader,  75- 
76;  as  a  communistic  com- 
munity, 76-77;  membership, 
76  (note);  Amana  gains 
members  from,  83 

Emmet,  Robert,  emigration 
from  Ireland  after  failure  of, 
105 

England,  reasons  for  expansion, 
2-3;  imports,  3;  social  and 
religious  changes,  6-7;  kid- 
naping, 8;  emigration  of 
poor,  9,  110,  111;  criminals 
sent  to  colonies,  9;  and  Ul- 
ster, 10;  French  Protestants 
flee  to,  15;  Jews  in,  16;  in- 
dustrial revolution  and  the 
American  negro,  52;  emi- 
gration from,  150 

English,  in  Virginia,  1;  in  New 
World,  2-10;  serving  class, 
8;  Nonconformists  in  Man- 
hattan, 17;  and  Dutch,  17- 
18;  and  French,  18;  on  land, 
151;  in  Johnstown  (Penn.), 
216;  in  Granite  City  (111.), 
217;  in  coal  mines  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 218 

Ephrata,  70-72 


INDEX 


245 


Erie,  Fort,  Fenians  hold,  120 
Europe,  migrations,   1-2;  im- 
migration from,  103;  see  also 
names  of  peoples 

Fan-child,  H.  P.,  quoted,  188 

Faneuil,  Peter,  16 

Fenian  movement,  118-21 

Finns  in  America,  160,  176, 
185 

Fiske,  John,  on  Scotch-Irish  in 
colonies,  12  (note);  The 
Dutch  and  Quaker  Colonies 
in  America,  cited,  14  (note) 

Fitchburg,  Poles  in,  214 

Fleming,  W.  L.,  The  Sequel  of 
Appomattox,  cited,  57  (note) 

Florida,  fugitive  slaves  in,  54 

Follenius  quoted,  135-36 

Ford,  H.  J.,  The  Scotch-Irish  in 
America,  quoted,  31 

Forestville  (Ind.),  communis- 
tic attempt,  96 

Fourierism  in  United  States, 
93,  96-97,  101-02 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  estimates 
population  of  Pennsylvania 
(1774),  12  (note) 

Franklin  (N.  Y.),  communistic 
attempt  at,  96 

Freedmen's  Bureau,  57,  58 

French,  Protestants  leave 
France,  15;  forts  and  trading 
posts  of ,  18 ;  in  United  States, 
151-53;  in  Charleroi  (Penn.), 
217;  see  also  Huguenots 

French  Canadians  in  New  Eng- 
land, 122,  152,  215 

Frontiersmen,  34-36 

Gallipolis  (O.)  settled  by  French, 

151 

Galveston,  Italians  in,  211 
Garfield,  J.   A.,  and   Chinese 

immigration,  197  (note) 
Garland,  Hamlin,  A  Son  of  the 

Middle  Border,  36-37 
Gary  (Ind.),  character  of  town, 

216-17 


Genoa  (Wis.),  Italian  colony, 
212 

Georgia,  English  settle,  5;  not 
represented  in  first  census,  25 

German-American  League,  145 

Germans,  in  Pennsylvania,  13, 
14;  lured  by  "soul-stealers," 
15;  religious  communists 
from,  68  et  seq.;  contrasted 
with  Irish,  124;  immigration 
tide,  124  elscq.;  first  period 
of  migration,  126-29;  second 
period  of  migration,  129-40; 
causes  of  emigration,  130; 
sailing  conditions,  134;  social 
life,  137,  140;  laborers,  137, 
141;  "Forty-eighters,"  137- 
138 ;  contribution  to  America, 
139;  newspapers,  139,  142- 
144;  number  of  immigrants 
(1870-1910),  141;  third  pe- 
riod of  migration,  141-46; 
Prussian  spirit  among  later 
immigrants,  142-44;  propa- 
ganda, 143-45;  "exchange 
professors,"  144;  in  Great 
War,  146;  in  Johnstown 
(Penn.),  216;  in  Granite 
City  (111.),  217;  in  coal  mines 
of  Pennsylvania,  218 

Germantown  (Penn.),  founded, 
13;  Pietists  at,  69 

Giessener  Gesellschaft,  136 

Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  5 

Godin,  J.  B.  A.,  102 

Granite  City  (111.),  Bulgarians 
in,  170;  racial  changes  in, 
217 

Great  Britain,  immigrants 
from,  103;  record  of  emigra- 
tion, 104;  see  also  England, 
English,  Irish,  Scotch,  Scotch- 
Irish,  Welsh 

Great  Lakes,  French  on,  18 

Great  War,  German  news- 
papers in,  143-44;  soldiers  of 
German  descent  in,  146; 
Poland  and,  168;  effect  on 
immigration,  233 


246 


INDEX 


Greeks  in   United  States,   183, 

217 

Greeley,  Horace,  97 
Guise,  only  successful  Fourier- 

istic  colony,  109 

Hacker,  J.  G.,  quoted,  133-84 
(note) 

Hadley,  Poles  in,  814-15 

Hakluyt,  Richard,  quoted,  4 

Hamburg,  German  emigrants 
embark  at,  134 

Hammonton  (N.  J.),  Italian 
colony  at,  5212 

Harmonists,  72-77 

Harmony,  town  established,  73 

Harmony  Society,  73 

Harvard  College,  8 

Hatchet  Men,  193 

Haverstraw  (N.  Y.),  commu-, 
nistic  attempt  at,  96 

Havre,  German  emigrants  em- 
bark at,  134 

Hayes,  R.  B.,  vetoes  amend- 
ment to  Burlingame  treaty, 
197;  appoints  commission 
to  negotiate  new  treaty  with 
China,  198 

Hessians,  settle  in  America, 
129;  Giessener  Gesellschaft, 
136 

Heynemann,  Barbara,  leader 
of  Inspirationists,  81,  82 

Highbinders,  193 

Hindoos  in  United  States,  207 

Holland,  French  Protestants 
flee  to,  15;  Spanish  and  Por- 
tuguese Jews  find  refuge  in, 
16-17;  Inspirationists,  80 

Holland  (Mich.),  center  of 
Dutch  influence,  153 

Homestead  Law  (1862),  148 

"Hooks  and  Eyes,"  nickname 
for  Amish,  68  (note) 

Houston  (Tex.),  Italians  in, 
211 

Hudson  Valley,  Dutch  in,  17 

Huguenots  in  Manhattan,  17; 
see  also  French 


Hungarians,  see  Jews,  Magyars 
Hungary,  Mennonitea  in,  89 
Hutter,      Jacob,      Mennonite 
martyr,  89 

I.  W.  W.,  tee  Industrial  Work- 
er* of  the  World 

Icaria,  97-101 

Icaria-Speranza  community, 
101 

Idaho,  Japanese  in,  £04 

Illinois,  admitted  as  State 
(1818),  33;  frontiersmen  in, 
36; "  Underground  Railway" 
in,  54;  negroes  in,  62;  Bishop 
Hill  Colony.  85-89;  Swedish 
immigration,  91;  Icarians  in, 
99-100;  Germans  in,  134, 
137;  Norwegians,  155;  Scan- 
dinavians in,  156;  Poles  in, 
160,  167,  213;  Slovenians  in, 
173;  racial  changes  in  coal 
regions  of,  219 

Immigration  (1790-1820),  32; 
legislation,  201,  207,  222  et 
seq.;  present  opportunities, 
208-10;  Lincoln  on,  222; 
only  attempt  of  Federal 
Government  to  encourage, 
222-23;  state  regulation. 
224-25;  bibliography.  235- 
236 ;  see  alto  names  of  peoples 

Immigration  Commission, 
created,  230;  and  Japanese. 
204 

Independence  (La.),  Italians 
in,  211 

Indiana,  admitted  as  State 
(1816),  33;  western  migra- 
tion through,  86;  "Under- 
ground Railway"  in,  54; 
negroes  in,  62;  New  Har- 
mony, 74-75,  94-96;  Ger- 
mans in,  134;  Scotch  and 
English  in,  151;  Italian  farm- 
ers in,  212;  Poles  in,  213; 
racial  changes  in  coal  regions, 
219 

Indianapolis,  Bulgarians  in,  170 


INDEX 


247 


Indians  real  Americans,  22 

Indians,  East,  in  America,  207 

Industrial  Commission,  on  Pol- 
ish immigrants,  167;  report 
on  immigration,  228 

Industrial  Workers  of  the 
World,  Finns  in,  160 

Inspirationists,  80-84 

Iowa,  frontiersmen  in,  36;  In- 
spirationists in,  82-84;  Ica- 
rians  in,  101;  Germans  in, 
134,  141;  Slavs  in,  213 

Irish,  in  America,  6,  103  et  .sv</. ; 
half  population  of  Ireland 
emigrates  to  America,  104; 
reasons  for  emigration,  105- 
107;  in  Continental  Army, 
108;pauperimmigrantsfrom, 
110;  travel  conditions  for 
immigrants,  111-12;  present 
immigration,  121;  economic 
advance  in  America,  122-23; 
contrasted  with  Germans, 
124;  number  of  immigrants 
(1820-1910),  150;  in  New 
England  mills,  215;  in  Law- 
rence (Mass.),  216;  in  Johns- 
town (Penn.),  216;  in  Gran- 
ite City  (111.),  217;  in  coal 
mines  of  Pennsylvania,  218 

Irish  Republican  Brotherhood, 
119 

Isaacks,  Isaac,  30 

Italians,  in  South,  65,  210-11; 
as  laborers,  122;  in  United 
States,  180-83;  on  poor  land, 
210;  in  New  England  mills, 
215;  in  Pennsylvania,  216, 
217,  218 

Jahn,   F.   L.,  organizes    Turn- 

vereine,  131 
James,  Henry,  on  foreigners  in 

Boston,  162-63 
Jansen,  Olaf,  88,  89 
Janson,  Eric,  85-87,  89 
Jansonists,  85-89,  90 
Japan,  agreement  with  (1907), 

205-06 


Japanese,  in  United  States,  203- 
207;  hostility  toward,  205- 
207;  order  of  exclusion  from 
United  States,  206 

Jay,  John,  16 

Jews,  ia  America,  16-17,  176- 
180;  Spanish-Portuguese, 
177;  German,  177;  Austrian, 
178;  Hungarian,  178;  Rus- 
sian, 178-79 

Johnstown  (Penn.),  racial 
changes  in,  216 

Joliet  (111.).  Slovenians  in,  172 

Kansas,  Germans  in,  141;  Scan- 
dinavians in,  156;  Slavs  in, 
213 

Kapp,  Frederick,  129,  140 

Kaskaskia,  French  settle,  152 

Kearney,  Dennis,  193 

Kelpius,  Johann,  leader  of 
Pietists,  69 

Kendal  (O.),  communistic  at- 
tempt at,  96 

Kentucky,  not  represented  in 
First  Census,  25;  admitted  as 
State  (1792),  33;  pioneers 
leave,  36 

Kidnaping,  labor  brought  to 
America  by,  8 

"  Know- Nothing"  party,  114, 
221 

Kotzebue,  German  publicist, 
131 

Kruszka,  Rev.  W.  X.,  esti- 
mates number  of  Poles,  in 
United  States,  167  (note) 

Ku  Klux  Klan,  68 

Labadists,  68-69 

Labor,  kidnaping  of,  8;  inden- 
tured service,  9-10;  Scotch 
political  prisoners  sold  into 
service,  12-13;  negro,  60-63; 
Irish  displaced  by  other  na- 
tionalities, 121-22;  Italian, 
181;  Chinese,  190-91;  at- 
titude toward  Chinese,  193, 
194;  treaty  limiting  Chinese, 


248 


INDEX 


Labor — Continued 

198;  bill  to  prohibit  immigra- 
tion of  Chinese,  199;  Scott 
Act,  201;  Japanese,  204; 
racial  changes  in,  216-17; 
law  to  aid  importation  of 
contract  labor,  222;  contract 
labor  excluded,  225 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  visits 
Gallipolis,  152 

Land,  immigrants  on  the,  147 
ft  seq.;  immigrants  on  aban- 
doned or  rejected  land,  208- 
214 

Laurens,  Henry,  16 

Lawrence  (Mass.),  racial 
changes  in,  215-16 

Lee,  Ann,  founder  of  Shakers, 
91,  92 

Legislation,  negro,  59-60;  Chi- 
nese immigration,  199-200, 
201-03;  California  Alien 
Land  Act,  206-07;  immigra- 
tion, 222  ct  seq. 

Lehigh  River,  Moravian  com- 
munity on,  72 

Lehman,  Peter,  72 

Lesueur,  C.  A.,  95 

Levant,  immigrants  from  the, 
184 

Limestone  Ridge,  Battle  of, 
120 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  father  a 
pioneer,  36;  message  to  Con- 
gress Dec.  8,  1863,  222 

Literacy  test  for  immigrants,  in 
Lodge  bill,  227;  rejected  in 
law  of  1903.  228-29;  execu- 
tive disapproval  of,  231;  bill 
passes  over  veto  (1917),  232; 
provisions  of  act,  232 

Lithuanians  in  United  States, 
174-75 

Liverpool,  Irish  immigrants  at, 
111,  112  (note) 

Lockwood,  G.  B.,  The  New 
Harmony  Movement,  cited, 
96  (note) 

Lodge,  H.  C.,  The  Distribution 


of  Ability  in  the  United  States, 
39-41,  43;  immigration  bill, 
227 

Logan,  James,  Secretary  of 
Province  of  Pennsylvania, 
on  Scotch-Irish,  11-12 

London,  German  emigrants 
embark  at,  134 

Los  Angeles,  anti-Chinese  riots, 
191 

Louis  Philippe  visits  Galli- 
polis, 152 

Louisiana,  admitted  as  State 
(1812),  33;  American  migra- 
tion to,  34;  Icarians  in,  99; 
Italians  in,  211 

Louisiana  Purchase  (1803),  147 

McCall,  of  Massachusetts,  in- 
troduces Lodge  bill  in  House, 
227 

McCarthy,  Justin,  quoted, 
106;  cited,  107 

Macedonia,  Bulgarians  from, 
170 

McGee,  T.  D'A.,  leader  of 
"Young  Ireland"  party,  120- 
121 

Maclure,  William,  "  Father  of 
American  Geology,"  94-95 

Macluria  (Ind.),  communistic 
attempt,  96 

McMaster,  J.  B.,  History  of  the 
People  of  the  United  States, 
quoted,  152 

McParlan,  James,  118 

Macy,  Jesse,  The  Anti-Slavery 
Crusade,  cited,  54  (note) 

Madison,  James,  on  population 
of  New  England,  34 

Madison  (111.),  racial  changes 
in,  217 

Magyars,  distinct  race,  174; 
in  United  States,  175-76;  in 
Granite  City  (111.),  217 

Maine,  Shakers  in,  91 

Mainzer  Adelsverein,  136 

Manchester  (England),  Shak- 
ers originate  in,  91 


INDEX 


249 


Manhattan,  Jewish  synagogue 
in  (1691),  16;  Dutch  in,  17; 
cosmopolitan  character,  17; 
Norwegian  Quakers  land  on, 
155;  see  also  New  York  City 

Marion,  Francis,  16 

Marx,  Karl,  179 

Maryland,  English  settle,  6-6; 
recruits  schoolmasters  from 
criminals,  9;  Scotch-Irish  in, 
11,  12;  Scotch  in,  12;  Irish 
in,  13;  Germans  in,  127; 
Poles  in,  213 

Massachusetts,  French  in,  15; 
Shakers  in,  91;  Brook  Farm, 
97 

Mather,  Cotton,  on  Scotch- 
Irish,  11 

Mayer,  Brantz,  Captain  Canot: 
or  Twenty  Years  in  a  Slaver, 
quoted,  48 

Meade,  General,  against  Fe- 
nians, 120 

Mennonites,  13,  68  (note) 

Mercury,  New  York,  quoted, 
108 

Metz,  Christian,  leader  of  In- 
spirationists,  81,  82 

Mexican  War  extends  United 
States  territory,  33,  148 

Mexicans,  feeling  against,  in 
California,  190 

Michigan,  admitted  as  State 
(1837),  33;  Germans  in,  134; 
Scotch  and  English  in,  151; 
Dutch  in,  153;  Scandinavi- 
ans in,  156;  farms  for  sale  in, 
209;  Slavs  in,  212;  racial 
changes  in  ore  regions  of,  219 

Mikkelsen,  quoted,  90-91 

Milwaukee,  "the  German 
Athens,"  135;  Poles  in,  167 
(note) 

Minnesota,  frontiersmen  in, 
36;  Scandinavians  in,  157; 
"Scandinavian  language  "^in 
university,  158-59;  Slavs  in, 
212;  racial  changes  in  ore 
regions  of,  219 


Mississippi,  admitted  as  State 
(1817),  33;  American  migra- 
tion to,  34;  Dalmatians  in, 
171 

Mississippi  River,  French  on, 
18 

Mississippi  Valley,  fugitive 
slaves  in,  54;  Irish  in,  108; 
German  influence,  135; 
French  in,  152;  Bohemians 
in,  159 

Missouri,  admitted  as  State 
(1821),  83;  frontiersmen  in, 
36;  Germans  in,  134;  Gies- 
sener  Gesellschaft  in,  136 

Mohawk  Valley,  Germans  in, 
127 

Molly  Maguires,  society  among 
anthracite  coal  miners,  117- 
118 

Monroe,  James,  and  Owen,  94 

Montenegrins,  as  South  Slavs, 
164;  in  United  States,  171 

Moravians,  13,  17,  72,  165 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  Utopia,  98 

Mormons,  87 

Mount  Lebanon,  Shaker  com- 
munity, 91 

Mount  Vernon,  nationalities 
represented  on  July  4,  1918, 
at,  233 

Names,  disappearance  of,  24- 
25  (note);  modifications,  30 

Nantes,  Edict  of,  revocation  of, 
15 

National  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Colored 
People,  63 

National  Civil  Federation  calls 
immigration  conference 
(1905),  229 

Nauvoo  (IH.)>  Icarians  at,  99- 
100,  101 

Navigation  Laws,  106 

Nebraska,  Germans  in,  141; 
Scandinavians  in,  156;  Bo- 
hemians in,  159;  Slavs  in, 
213 


250 


INDEX 


Neef ,  Joseph,  95 

Negroes,  45  et  seq.;  identified 
with  America,  45;  most  dis- 
tinctly foreign  element,  46; 
tribes  represented  among 
slaves,  49;  mutual  benefit  or- 
ganizations, 51-52, 63;  popu- 
lation (I860),  56;  education, 
57;  religion,  57;  as  farmers, 
59-60;  advance,  64;  char- 
acteristics shown  by  neg- 
lected gardens,  64-65;  bib- 
liography, 236-37;  tee  alto 
Africans,  Slavery,  Slave 
trade 

Nevada,  vote  for  Garfield 
(1880),  197  (note) 

New  Amsterdam,  Jews  come  to, 
16 

New  Bedford,  Portuguese  in, 
184 

New  Bern,  Germans  in,  127 

New  England,  English  settle, 
5-6;  dissenters  found,  8; 
Scotch- Irish  leave,  11;  Dutch 
and,  17;  Madison  on  popu- 
lation of,  34;  slavery,  51; 
"Underground  Railway"  in, 
54;  capital  in  slave  trade,  56; 
Montenegrins  and  Serbians 
in,  171;  Portuguese  in,  184; 
abandoned  farms,  209;  Poles 
in,  213;  Slavs  in,  214;  racial 
changes  in  mills,  215-16 

New  Era  founded  by  McGee, 
121  (note) 

New  Hampshire,  Shakers  in, 
91 

New  Harmony  (Ind.),  Rapp's 
colony,  74-75;  sold  to  Robert 
Owen,  75;  Owen's  colony, 
94-96 

New  Jersey,  English  settle,  5; 
not  represented  in  first  cen- 
sus, 25;  census  computations 
for  1790,  28-29;  Germans  in, 
127;  racial  changes  in  manu- 
facturing towns,  216 

New  Netherland,  17 


New  Orleans,  Spain  acquires. 
18;  Icarians  in,  99;  Irish  in, 
113;  Dalmatians  in,  171; 
Italians  in,  180, 211 

New  York  (State),  Germans  in, 
14;  French  in,  15;  Jews  in, 
16;  western  part  settled,  33; 
migration  through,  36;  slav- 
ery, 50-51;  "Underground 
Railway"  in,  54;  and  slave 
trade,  56;  negroes  in,  62; 
Shakers  in,  91;  Scotch  and 
English  in,  151;  Norwegians 
in,  155;  Poles  in,  167;  Rus- 
sians in,  169;  Italian  farmers, 
212;  racial  changes  in  manu- 
facturing towns,  216;  State 
relief  for  immigrants,  224 

New  York  City,  French  in,  16; 
cosmopolitanism,  18-19; 
Irish  in,  108,  109, 113;  Tam- 
many Hall,  116;  Germans  in, 
127;  Poles  in,  167  (note); 
Croatiansin,  172;  Hungarian 
Jews,  178;  Russian  Jews,  179; 
Italians,  180;  see  also  Man- 
hattan 

New  York  Nation,  McGee  es- 
tablishes, 120  (note) 

New  Zealand,  deflects  migra- 
tion to  United  States,  150 

Newfoundland,  Irish  come 
through,  109 

Newspapers,  German,  139, 142- 
144;  Scandinavian,  158;  Slo- 
vak, 169 

"Niagara  Movement,"  63 

Norsemen,  tee  Scandinavians 

North,  colonies  settled  by 
townfolk,  7-8;  negroes  in, 
55;  negro  laborers,  62 

North  Carolina,  Germans  in, 
127 

Northwest,  Scandinavians  in, 
156;  see  also  names  of  States 

Northwest  Territory,  slavery 
forbidden  in,  51 

Norwegians,  number  in  Amer- 
ica, 154;  character,  154; 


INDEX 


251 


Norwegians — Continued 
lead     Scandinavian     migra- 
tion,   155;   see  also   Scandi- 
navians 

Noyes,  J.  H.,  92,  93 

Oberholtzer,  History  of  the 
United  States  since  the  Civil 
War,  cited,  120  (note),  148 
(note),  149  (note) 
Ohio,  admitted  as  State  (1802), 
33;  western  migration 
through,  36;  "Underground 
Railway"  in,  54;  negroes  in, 
62;  Zoar  colony,  78-80;  Ger- 
mans in,  134;  Scotch  and 
English  in,  151;  French  in, 
151-52;  Swiss  in,  153;  Sloven- 
ians in,  173;  Italian  farmers, 
212;  Poles  in,  213;  racial 
changes  in  coal  regions  of, 
219 

Ohio  River,  French  on,  18 
Oklahoma,  Bohemians  in,  159; 

Slavs  in  213 

Old  Elmspring  Community.  89 
Olsen,  Jonas,  87,  88 
Omaha,  Italians  in,  180 
Oneida  Community,  92-93 
Orange  County  (N.  Y.),  Polish 

settlement,  213 
Ordinance  of  1787,  51 
Oregon,  acquisition  of  (1846), 
33,    147;   Scandinavians  in, 
156;  Japanese  in,  203 
Orientals,  188  et  seq.\  see  also 
Chinese,  Indians,  East,  Jap- 
anese 

Otis,  General,  202 
Owen,  Robert,  75,  93-96,  98 
Ozark  Mountains,  Italians  in, 
211 

Palatinate,  peasants  come  to 

America  from,  14 
Penn,  William,  71 
Pennsylvania,    English   settle, 

5;    Scotch-Irish    in,    11-12; 

Welsh  in,   13;  Germans  in. 


13,  14, 126-27;  Dutch  in,  14; 
Jews  in,  17;  cosmopolitan 
character,  19;  western  part 
settled,  33;  slavery,  51; 
negroes  in,  62;  Dunkards  in, 
70;  Poles  in,  167;  Russians 
in,  169;  Croatians  in,  172; 
Slovenians  in,  173;  Lithua- 
nians in,  175;  Italian  farm- 
ers, 212;  landward  movement 
of  Slavs  in,  213-14;  racial 
changes,  216,  218-19 

Pennsylvania  Philosophical  So- 
ciety, Pietists'  astrological 
instruments  in  collection  of, 
70 

Petrosino,  Lieutenant  Joseph, 
murdered,  231 

Peysel,  see  Beissel 

Philadelphia,  Welsh  near,  13; 
cosmopolitan  character,  18; 
negroes  arrested,  51;  Ephra- 
ta  draws  pupils  from,  71; 
Irish  immigrant  association, 
109;  Irish  in,  113;  Italians  in, 
180 

Philippines,  Chinese  exclusion, 
202 

Pietists,  69-70 

Pine  Lake  (Wis.).  Swedish  col- 
ony, 155 

Pittsburgh,  "Boat  Load  of 
Knowledge"  from,  94 

Poles,  in  America,  160,  167-69, 
213,  214-15,  217;  as  North 
Slavs,  164 

Politics,  foreigners  in,  42;  Irish 
in,  116, 117;  Germans  in,  139, 
144;  Bohemians  in,  166; 
Chinese  as  issue,  193;  selec- 
tive immigration  as  issue 
(1892),  226-27 

Population,  increase  in,  32; 
see  also  Census 

Portland,  Italians  in,  180 

Portuguese  in  United  States, 
184 

Prairie  du  Rocher,  French 
settlement,  152 


252 


INDEX 


Presbyterians,  Scotch-Irish,  10 
Presidents    of    United    States 

from  American  stock,  42 
Price,  J.  C.,  negro  orator,  64 

Quakers,  Norwegian,  155 

Rafinesque,  C.  S.,  95 

Railroads,  Chinese  laborers  ou, 
190 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  5 

Rapp,  F.  11.,  adopted  son  of 
Father  Rapp,  75-76 

Rapp,  J.  G.,  founder  of  Har- 
monists, 73; "  Father  Rapp," 
74;  at  Harmony,  73-74;  at 
New  Harmony,  74-75;  at 
Economy,  75-77 

Reconstruction  after  Civil  War, 
57-59 

Red  Bank  (N.  J.),  communis- 
tic colony  at,  97 

Reed,  of  Missouri,  wishes  to  ex- 
clude African  immigrants, 
232 

Republican  party  on  immigra- 
tion restriction,  226 

Restoration  (sloop),  155 

Revere,  Paul,  16 

Revolutionary  War,  Irish  in, 
108;  Germans  and,  127 

Rhode  Island,  French  in,  15; 
Jews  in,  17 

Rock  Springs  (Wyo.),  anti- 
Chinese  riot,  200 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  confer- 
ence with  delegation  from 
California,  205;  on  restric- 
tion of  immigration,  229-30 

Root,  John,  86-87 

Ross,  E.  A.,  The  Old  World  in 
the  New,  cited,  163  (note) 

Rumania,  Mennonites  in,  89 

Rush,  Benjamin,  Manners  of 
the  German  Inhabitants  of 
Pennsylvania,  127-29 

Russia,  Mennonites  in,  89 

Russians,  as  North  Slavs,  164; 
in  United  States,  169-70 


Ruthenians  (Ukranians),  as 
North  Slavs,  164;  in  United 
States,  169 

St.  Lawrence  River,  French  on, 
18 

St.  Louis,  Cabet  in,  100;  Irish 
in,  113;  Germans  in,  135; 
Hungarian  Jews  in,  178; 
Italians  in,  180 

St.  Patrick's  Day,  observed  in 
Boston  (1737),  108;  in  New 
York  City  (1762),  108; 
(1776),  108;  (1784),  109 

San  Antonio,  Italians  in,  211 

San  Francisco,  anti-Chinese  at- 
titude, 193,  194,  200;  Japa- 
nese excluded  from  public 
schools,  205 

Savannah,  Germans  in,  127 

Say,  Thomas,  "Father  of 
American  Zoology,"  95 

Scandinavians  in  United  States, 
85,  153-59,  185 

Schleswig-Holstein,  Danes  emi- 
grate from,  156 

Schluter,  see  Sluyter 

Schmitz,  Mayor  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, 205 

Schurz,  Carl,  139 

Scioto  Land  Company  (Com- 
panieduScioto),  151-52 

Scotch,  in  America,  6,  12-13; 
in  Manhattan,  17;  immi- 
grants, 110,  150;  on  the  land, 
151;  in  coal  mines  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 218 

Scotch-Irish,  in  America,  6, 
10,  11;  in  Pennsylvania, 
11-12,  12  (note);  names, 
30-31 

Seattle,  Bulgarians  in,  170; 
anti-Chinese  feeling,  200 

Seneca  Indians  Reservation,  I  n- 
spirationists  purchase  (1841), 
81 

Serbians,  as  South  Slavs,  164; 
in  United  States,  171,  217 

Seward,   W.  H.,  Secretary  of 


INDEX 


253 


Seward,  W.  H. — Continued 
State,    treaty    with    China 
(1868),  195-96 

Shaker  Compendium  quoted,  91 

Shakers,  91-92 

Shaw,  Albert,  Icaria,  A  Chapter 
in  the  History  of  Commu- 
nism, quoted,  100 

Siberia,  Russian  immigrants 
to,  170  (note) 

Sicilians,  182;  see  also  Italians 

Silkville  (Kan.),  French  com- 
munistic colony  in,  102 

Six  Companies,  Chinese  organ- 
ization, 192,  193 

Slavery,  as  recognized  institu- 
tion, 9,  50;  Channing  on, 
46-47;  protests  against,  51; 
influence  of  cotton  demand 
on,  52-53;  fugitive  slaves, 
54-55;  condition  when  eman- 
cipated, 56-57;  Germans 
against,  139;  see  also  Ne- 
groes, Slave  trade 

Slave  trade,  beginning  of,  47; 
capture  and  transportation 
of  slaves,  47-50;  law  pro- 
hibiting, 55;  effect  of  cotton 
demand  on,  55-56 

Slavonians  on  Pacific  slope,  213 

Slavs,  use  of  term,  164;  on 
poor  land,  210;  colonies,  212- 
213;  in  New  England  mills, 
214,  215;  in  Pennsylvania, 
216,  217,  218;  see  also  Bo- 
hemians, Bulgarians,  Croa- 
tians,  Dalmatians,  Monte- 
negrins, Poles,  Russians, 
Ruthenians,  Serbians,  Slo- 
vaks, Slovenians 

Slovaks,  as  North  Slavs,  164; 
in  United  States,  168-69, 
216,  217;  see  also  Slavs 

Slovenians,  as  South  Slavs, 
164;  "Griners,"  172;  see 
also  Slavs 

Sluyter,  Peter  (or  Schluter), 
(Vorstmann),  leader  of  Laba- 
dists,  68 


Snow  Hill  (Penn.),  community, 
72 

Society  of  United  Irishmen, 
109 

South,  plan tationslure  English, 
7;  Scotch-Irish  in,  12;  cot- 
ton production,  52-53;  Re- 
construction, 57-59;  opposes 
liberal  land  laws,  148;  im- 
migrants in  cut-over  timber 
regions,  208;  opportunities 
for  immigrants  in,  210 

South  Carolina,  French  in,  15; 
slave  laws,  50;  insurrection 
(1822),  53;  Germans  in,  127 

South  Dakota,  Old  Elmspring 
Community,  89 

Spain,  England's  victory  over, 
2;  France  cedes  New  Or- 
leans to,  18 

Spanish-Americans  in  Cali- 
fornia, 190 

Standard  Oil  Company  builds 
Whiting  (Ind.),  217 

Steiner,  E.  A.,  On  the  Trail  of 
the  Immigrant,  quoted,  166, 
178-79 

Stephens,  James,  119 

Sullivan,  General  John,  order 
of  March  17,  1776, 108 

Sunnyside  (Ark.),  Italians  es- 
tablish (1895),  211 

Supreme  Court,  Chief  Justices 
from  American  stock,  42; 
upholds  communal  contract, 
73;  upholds  exclusion,  200; 
on  state  regulation  of  im- 
migration, 225  _ 

Swedes,  in  America,  85,  154, 
155-56;  "Frenchmen  of  the 
North,"  154;  see  also  Scan- 
dinavians 

Switzerland,  Inspirationists 
from,  80;  immigration  from, 
104;  number  of  immigrants, 
153 

Syrians,  as  laborers,  122;  in 
United  States.  184;  in  Johns- 
town (Penn.).  216 


254 


INDEX 


Tacoma,  anti-Chinese  feeling, 
200 

Taft,  W.  H.  vetoes  literacy 
test  provision  (1913),  231 

Tammany  Hall,  116 

Tennessee,  not  represented  in 
First  Census,  25;  admitted 
as  State  (1796),  33;  pioneers 
leave,  86 

Texas,  added  to  United  States, 
33;  Icarians  in,  99;  Fourier- 
istic  community  in,  101-02; 
Mainzer  Adelsverein  in,  136; 
Bohemians  in,  159;  Poles  in, 
160,  167;  Italian  colonies, 
211;  Slavs  in,  213 

Thompson,  Holland,  The  New 
South,  cited,  60  (note) 

Tillinghast,  The  Negro  in  Afri- 
ca, quoted,  49 

Tokyo,  anti-American  feeling, 
207 

Tone,  Wolfe,  portrait  on  Fe- 
nian bonds  by,  119 

Transportation,  development 
of,  149 

Tribune,  New  York,  Brisbaue 
and,  97 

Troost,  Gerard,  95 

Turks  in  United  States.  184 

Turnvereine,  131, 137 

Tuskegee  Institute,  63 

Ukranians,  see  Ruthenians 
Ulster,  Scotch  in,  10 
Ulstermen,  see  Scotch-Irish 
"Underground  Railway,"  64 
United     States,     now     called 
America,  22;  population  at 
close     of     Revolution,     23; 
American  stock,  23;  census 
(1790),  24;  names  changed 
or  disappeared,  24-25  (note) ; 
population  (1820),  32;  Irish 
population,  105;  expansion, 
1-17-48;     nation    of    immi- 
grants, 233;  see  also  America 
United  States  Steel  Corporation 
builds  Gary  (Ind.),  216-17 


Unonius,  Gustavus,  155 
Utopias  in  America,  66  et  seq.; 
bibliography,  238-39 

Vermont,  slaves  emancipated, 
51 

Vespucci,  Amerigo,  claim  of 
discovery  recognized,  21 

Vineland  (N.  J.),  Italian  colony 
at,  212 

Virginia,  English  occupation 
(1607),  1;  English  in,  5; 
protests  receiving  criminals, 
9;  Scotch-Irish  in,  11,  12; 
French  in,  15;  slavery,  47, 
50;  insurrection  (1831),  53- 
54;  Irish  in,  105;  Germans  in, 
127;  racial  changes  in  coal 
regions  of,  219 

Vorstmann,  see  Sluyter 

Waldenses  in  Manhattan,  17 

WaldseemUller,  Martin,  and 
name  America,  21 

Ward's  Island,  hospitals  for 
immigrants  on,  224 

Ware,  Poles  in,  214 

Washington,  Booker  T.,  63 

Washington,  George,  on  name 
America,  21;  on  spread  of 
native  population,  34;  order 
of  March  17,  1776,  108 

Washington  (State),  Scandi- 
navians in,  156;  Japanese  in, 
203,  204 

Washington  (D.  C.)  Owen  lec- 
tures at,  94;  anti- Japanese 
demonstration  at,  207 

Welsh,  in  United  States,  6, 
150,  151,  216,  217,  218 

West,  Far,  Germans  in,  142; 
draws  homeseekers,  147;  and 
land  laws,  148;  see  also  names 
of  States 

West  Indies,  French  in,  18; 
negro  slavery,  47;  Irish 
transported  to,  105;  Irish 
come  through,  109 


INDEX 


255 


West,  Middle,  racial  changes  in, 

216;  see  also  names  of  States 

West   Virginia,    Croatians   in, 

172 ;  racial  changes  iu,  216, 219 

Westfield,  Poles  in,  214 

Whiting  (Ind.),  foreigner*  in, 

217 

Whitney,  Eli,  cotton  gin,  52 
Wilcox,  W.  F.,  quoted,  62-63 
Wilmington,  Germans  in,  127 
Wilson,    Woodrow,   and   anti- 
Japanese    feeling,    206;    on 
literacy  test,  231 
Windber(Penn.), racial  changes 

in,  219 

Winthrop,  John,  on  immigra- 
tion of  Scotch-Irish,  11 
Wisconsin,  frontiersmen  in,  36; 
"Underground  Railway"  in, 
54;  Fouri eristic  colony  in, 
97;  Germans  in,  134,  137; 


Swiss  in,  153;  Scandinavians 
in,  156;  Poles  in,  160,  167; 
farms  available  in,  209; 
Slavs  in,  212 

Worcester,  Poles  in,  214 

Workingmen's  party,  198 

Wright,  Fanny,  95 

Wyoming,  and  Chinese  in- 
demnity claim,  201 

Yazoo  Delta,  Italians  in,  211 
Yellow  Springs  (O.),  commu- 
nistic attempt,  96 
Young,  Brigham,  87 
"Young  Ireland"  party,  120 

Zimmermann,  J.  ,!..  founder  of 

Pietists,  69 
Zinzendorf,  Count,  72 
Zoar,  colony  at,  78-80;  Amana 

gains  members  from,  83 


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